Inside Cork’s missing persons search team working along River Lee to bring closure to families

Volunteer team combines skill, technology and empathy to search Cork’s waterways and support families in their darkest moments

It's an eerie feeling to roam the River Lee in Cork City in a small inflatable boat, with a torch shining under the wooden piers of the city, not knowing what or who you may find.

Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery group is based at the bottom of Horgan’s Quay.

The cold air often sweeps into the shed as a group of 21 volunteers — who work across the navy, fire brigade, and airport police — train and lead important search and recovery efforts.

When the phone rings, with a call to assist in recovering a missing person, it takes less than 10 minutes for the crew to arrive at the shed, get to the jeeps, and get onto their boat, usually anchored outside the Port of Cork building.

It’s a “go, go, go” situation from then on for the volunteers, as they zoom in from different parts of Cork City, ready to help.

They start searching the water, whether it is day or night.

David Varian briefing fellow volunteers inside the Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery base on Horgan’s Quay.  

David Shine and Graham Wheatley prepare the search drone, a vital tool used by the voluntary group. Pictures: Chani Anderson

The searches that end with a positive outcome are usually short.

Sadly, it’s more common for a search to take days or months, with tragic consequences.

Volunteers are always on the lookout, searching for ‘hotspots’, places where bodies might end up after being carried out by a strong current.

Dinny Kiely has been with the Search and Recovery Group for nearly 25 years, since its inception in 2001.

From small beginnings

It started as a small operation, with one boat, bought through donations.

Over the years, more people joined, and more equipment was bought: Two vans, two 4x4 jeeps, four boats, high-tech diving gear, sonar, drones, and life jackets, costing around €1m in total.

Mr Kiely, a former fisherman, took the Irish Examiner out on one of the boats.

As he shone his torch ahead of us, he recalled the tragedy of finding his missing aunt, three months after she disappeared.

Christy O’Donovan helps ‘Irish Examiner’ reporter Imasha Costa into a lifejacket before heading out on the River Lee with the volunteer team. The group receives no State funding and relies on public support.

Firefighters by day and volunteers by night, Eoghan Cahill and Ben O’Flynn prepare a search boat at the Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery base. Picture: Chani Anderson

“I was fishing one day, here at the pier [outside the Marina], and at that point my aunt had been missing for three months,” Mr Kiely said.

“Back in the day, we did not have any of these services available, and there I was fishing, and then there was a dog who caught a smell.

“Below the pier, where I was fishing, was my aunt, three months later, we had found her. That gave us some closure,” Mr Kiely said.

Tragedy struck again for Mr Kiely when a boy disappeared after going into the river. The missing boy had been a friend of Mr Kiely’s deceased son.

“I was fishing, and I had a boat, and even though my family were against it, because it was so soon, we started searching and found him after three weeks. We eventually got him down below in Tivoli,” he said.

“It was closure to help that family. Every time I find someone, it’s good, you feel good inside, that’s the way.”

Mikhail Edkov and Yulia Kostygova in the Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery base as they prepare for a night search. 

Like Mr Kiely, many other volunteers have dealt with their own personal tragedy.

Secretary for the group, David Varian, recalled how his brother went missing for 10 days in 2006.

“My parents reported him missing, but there was nobody else to do anything, and through word of mouth, we contacted Cork Missing Persons. They came to our house, they spoke to my mam and dad,” he said.

“They went searching for my brother for 10 days, until he was found, and it brought closure to my mam and dad, and then a year later, I came and asked the lads if I could give some of my time.”

He called the recovery efforts “rewarding” as he knew what it had done for his own family.

Lighter side to the team's work 

“Harrowing isn’t a word that I would use to describe the work that we do. There is a good side to it. 

We do Ocean to City races, we look after safety boats, and we get called up for cats, dogs, and ducks,” Mr Varian added.

Team Oar-dinary Legends from West Clare Currach Club in a 4hd Working Naomhóg competing in last year's 20th annual Ocean to City An Rás Mór — the flagship event of the annual Cork Harbour Festival. Picture: Clare Keogh 

“We had one incident where a cat was stuck on the bridge, and Cork City Fire Brigade called us.

“This kitten had gone into the hollow part of the bridge.

“The kitten’s owners were there. They stayed there until midnight.

“We got a cat trap, got some cat food, got up there with the boat. 

"There was a trail of cat food coming out until the kitten went into the cat trap. 

"We made the front page of The Echo the next day,” Mr Varian said.

Making a difference

For volunteers, one case in particular has stuck with them to this day, the search for a man who had been missing for almost 17 years.

Rescue coordinator Chris O’Donovan said a new piece of sonar equipment was key to the search.

“We saw a target on the sonar, we took that home, and we went through it over and over again.

“My daughter came in through the front door, and I picked up my phone and asked her, ‘What’s that?’

“She said, ‘It’s a car’ straight away, she didn’t think about it.

“I rang the divers, we dove on it, and within 10 minutes, we had a number plate. We knew whose car we had found.”

Mr O’Donovan said he then rang the superintendent of the garda station involved with the case, and he said the garda’s response was “complete shock”.

“It was closure for their family, after a long time looking for him,” Mr Varian said.

“We stayed on the pier all night, we told the family we’d stay. He was all alone for the past 17 years. The least we could do is stay with him on the pier all night, and the gardaí came back the following day with the diving gear.”

The human side of searches

“We get calls from the emergency services, but we also get calls from the families as well, and you obviously can tell how desperate it is,” Mr O’Donovan said.

“If those calls come in, we are out the door. I pick up the phone, text into our WhatsApp that we have a search — water, land, whatever — we meet at the base, and we go from there.

Christy O’Donovan outside the Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery base on Horgan’s Quay in the city centre, where he volunteers his time with the entirely charity-run group that assists families searching for missing loved ones. Picture: Chani Anderson

“We get the full briefing on the way in, about whoever we are looking for, the family we need to contact, the gardaí or the coast guard.

“We need a description of the person who is missing, the place they were last seen, and the place we need to search,” Mr O’Donovan said.

“We have rescued a few people, which is massive for us, because we don’t have ‘rescue’ in our name.

“Obviously, we specialise in recovering people, but recovery can mean different things to different people.

“When the phone rings, most of these people would jump out of bed, and we normally won’t get home until 3am,” he added.

David Shine guides one of the Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery boats back to shore at Horgan’s Quay following a volunteer search operation on the River Lee. Picture: Chani Anderson

The first thing that usually goes up is the drone, says Mr O’Donovan.

After finding someone, the group brings the recovered body to the base on Horgan’s Quay.

“We set up here, whereby we can give that person dignity and respect, and the family can come here. There are no blue lights, there is no one driving with lights flashing, there’s no drama,” Mr O’Donovan said.

“The last thing families want is a load of blue lights and drama, especially when the outcome is positive in one way because you find somebody, but it’s really negative. People are at their worst times; they don’t want all that. They do not want to be filmed or looked at, or anything like that.

“We allow them to come in here and give them the time so they can come down and visit their deceased loved one. We’ll give them a cup of tea, whatever they want. We always keep the deceased people here. We never leave them alone.

“We will stay with them until the undertakers come and take their bodies away,” he added.

Making a difference

“These 21 volunteers make a difference in the community,” Mr O’Donovan said.

“We don’t judge, so if someone wants help, they can pick up the phone, they can ring us, and if we can help them, we will help them straightaway,” he added.

The group also delivers for Feed Cork and has delivered parcels and hampers for Christmas for Penny Dinners for four years.

“A couple of years ago, there was heavy snow, and we were getting phone calls from people who couldn’t get out of their houses to go up to Marymount.

“We went up and collected them in the 4x4s and delivered them to Marymount,” Mr O’Donovan said.

Eoghan Cahill, Ben O’Flynn, Dinnie Kiely, David Shine, David Varian, Christy O’Donovan, Yulia Kostygova, Ber O’Donovan, Mikhail Edkov and Emma O’Donovan pictured at the Cork Missing Persons Search and Recovery base on Horgan’s Quay. Picture: Chani Anderson

Custom dry suits hang ready for use inside the Cork City Missing Persons Search and Recovery base on Horgan’s Quay. Picture Chani Anderson

Everyone in the group has “the empathy to help someone else, that’s why we are here”, he said.

“We unfortunately have people who are living on the streets who would sleep outside of our base here, so in the mornings, if we are here, they can come in and get a cup of tea. We have clothes for them here, we have blankets.

“Everyone here has the empathy to help someone else. We’re here to help people; there’s no agenda.