Divers find another body in search for missing fishermen

Divers searching for the missing three crewmen from the Tit Bonhomme in Cork have recovered another body today.

Divers searching for the missing three crewmen from the Tit Bonhomme in Cork have recovered another body today.

The body, which has been identified as Egyptian fishermen Wael Mohamed (35), was found by divers at around 10am.

Mr Mohamed's remains were found in the general vicinity of the wreck of the sunken trawler which is lying on the western side of Adam Island at the mouth of Glandore harbour.

His body was brought ashore at Union Hall pier shortly after 11am where relatives of the men have been keeping a vigil since the tragedy last Sunday.

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He was the brother of the only survivor Abdul Mohamed. He was identified in a temporary morgue set up in a tent on the pier.

Later, around 50 members of the Egyptian community led by their imam gathered, facing eastward and saying prayers, as a hearse took the dead man away.

Around 100 members of the Irish community respectfully bowed their heads during the ceremony.

Earlier in the week, the bodies of fellow crewmen, Attea Shaban (26) and Kevin Kershaw (21), were recovered from the sea.

A Naval Service and Garda dive team are continuing their search today for the other missing men.

They spent several hours searching through the wreck of the Tit Bonhomme yesterday without success.

Skipper of the Tit Bonhomme , Michael Hayes, a 52-year-old father-of-five from Helvick Head in Co Waterford, and his Egyptian crewmen Wael Mohamed (35) and Said Mohamed (23) have been missing since the trawler sank last Sunday morning.

On Friday, Gerard O’Flynn of the Irish Coast Guard said that the dive teams would concentrate their search today in the vicinity of the wreck, having entered and investigated the wreck yesterday afternoon.

“We always identify a number of areas for priority investigation, including the wreck, but the wreck required particularly favourable weather conditions, and when we got those the dive teams focused on the wreck,” said Mr O’Flynn.

The weather forecast remains favourable for diving near the wreck over the weekend as although the wind is set to freshen it will remain west-northwesterly, which means the prevailing wind will be broken by the western headland of Glandore harbour.

It emerged that Tit Bonhomme’s aluminium wheelhouse had sheared off in the rough seas that had battered the 21m steel-hulled trawler for the first three days after it went aground on Adam Island.

Barry Roche

Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times