Anguish for two families as bodies recovered off Waterford

The bodies of two men who drowned while fishing were today recovered by Navy divers.

The victims, named locally as father-of-four John O’Brien and friend Pat Esmonde, disappeared on Sunday during a fishing trip off the Waterford coast.

A navy spokesman confirmed two remains were located on the sea bed at 11.20am.

Lt Commander Terry Ward, of the Naval Service, said: “They were at 24 metres (78.7ft) of water about 100 metres (328ft) from the initial search section.

“The bodies were handed over to the RNLI who brought them ashore.”

The families of the men waited anxiously on Helvick Head, near Dungarvan, for the last day-and-a-half as the navy, coast guard and RNLI carried out a full-scale search operation.

The remains of Mr O’Brien, 37, from Waterford, and father-of-one Mr Esmonde, 36, from South Tipperary, were recovered on the eighth dive by members of the navy.

The friends had gone out to sea in a dinghy on Sunday in near-flat calm conditions.

The alarm was raised at about 5pm when a fisherman heard one of the men shouting and saw him in the water.

When he got to the dinghy, neither could be seen.

The small inflatable, which did not overturn, was recovered with two lifejackets and fishing equipment found in it.