Priest tells of families' anguish after sea tragedy

The families of two men missing off the coast of west Cork were tonight praying their bodies would be returned to them.

Fr Pat McCarthy said the relatives of the two men who went missing after going to the rescue of a young couple who got into difficulties in the water at Owenahincha Strand on Sunday were resigned to the men having drowned.

The missing men were named locally as Peter O’Keeffe, 37, a businessman, and Jonathan Herlihy, 23, a UCC student.

“I suppose the prayer at this stage is that the bodies will be found, I think both families are hoping and praying the bodies will be found. I feel if they are not found it will add so much more to their difficulty and torment,” said Fr McCarthy, a local priest, who was called to the strand by a sister of one of the missing men.

“As the night went by I think they became resigned they probably would not be found alive.”

The two men were at the beach separately when they noticed the couple in difficulties due to the rough sea conditions.

The men managed to save the couple’s lives by getting a lifebuoy to them before they themselves were washed into the sea by strong waves.

Mr O’Keeffe, who had attended a wedding in the area over the weekend, was walking along the beach with his fiancee on Sunday when they noticed the couple in the water.

“Both men responded spontaneously and immediately, I suppose without any thought for their own safety just jumped in and tried to rescue them,” Fr McCarthy said. They managed to get a lifebuoy to the couple, who were washed ashore by the strong waves.

But the friends of the two men watched in horror as they failed to return.

“The weather was nice and mild but the sea was looking very angry I was amazed how anybody would have thought of going in for a swim in those kind of conditions, there were very high waves. And it just did not look attractive in any sense,” Fr McCarthy said, describing the conditions as he arrived on the beach yesterday.

He told RTÉ Radio: “When I went over first initially it was optimistic, another hour or two they would surely be found and everything would be fine. But as the time went on and as the hours crept by, more and more the mood was getting very dark and ended up very pessimistic.

“Initially both families firmly believed they would be found alive they were both strong swimmers, both young men. The assumption was they just would not be lost at sea, they were the kind of men who you would assume could find their way out of this kind of situation.”

Dozens of people on the beach alerted the coastguard and immediately began searching for the two men. A rescue helicopter was deployed from Shannon, and a naval vessel also participated in the operation alongside the Courtmacsherry lifeboat, two Irish Coast Guard vessels and other fishing boats.

Naval divers were also called in to aid the search as it continued into its second day.

Over 60 people, including relatives and friends, joined the search with parties covering the shoreline between Glandore Harbour and Dirk Bay.