NAVAL DIVERS are set to resume an underwater search off the west Cork coast this morning for a missing 13-year-old Polish boy following the recovery of the body of his father yesterday morning near where the pair went missing.
A Naval Service dive team under Lieut Tony O’Regan recovered the body of Piotr Latek in eight metres of water about 100 metres off shore near Cod’s Head between Allihies and Eyries on the Beara Peninsula just before 11am yesterday.
However, the divers found no trace of Mr Latek’s son, Matteus, who had come from Poland earlier this month to visit his father in Kenmare in Co Kerry, and gone fishing with him on Sunday afternoon at Cod’s Head.
According to Lieut Cdr Terry Ward of the Naval Service, the eight-man dive team worked in relays of four, carrying out the first search at 8am and conducting a total of five dives averaging around 40 minutes each.
Mr Latek’s body was brought ashore by a Naval Service dive team and transferred to Cork University Hospital, where a post-mortem was due to be carried out.
Lieut Cdr Ward said diving conditions were difficult.
Although the weather conditions were reasonably good, the search area contained a lot of jagged rocks covered in kelp and the divers had to expend a lot of energy simply trying to hold their position, he said.
The search was suspended at around 6pm yesterday evening but will resume again at 8am this morning.
The divers are planning to extend the search area beyond Cod’s Head, as weather conditions are expected to be reasonably good, he added.
Supt Liam Horgan, of Bantry Garda station, said the location where Mr Latek’s body was found was near where his fishing rod had been located by gardaí on Tuesday, and searchers were hopeful that Matteus had similarly not been carried far away.
“Only for the Naval Service we would have been lost and we’re just hoping now that when they resume the search tomorrow that the body of young Matteus will be in the same general area as where they found his father’s body,” said Supt Horgan.
“Hopefully if they can recover the young boy’s body it may provide some consolation for the family that at least they were together when they died – it’s an awful tragedy and we can only hope that the boy’s body can be recovered too,” he added.
Members of the Polish community in Kenmare gathered last night for a special Mass for Piotr Latek and Matteus, with members extending their sympathies to Mr Latek’s father, Stanislaw, who had flown in on Monday for a visit.
Mr Latek’s widow, Joanna, is due to arrive in Kenmare today. Mr Latek’s employer, Breadcrumb Baker owner Manuela Goeb, confirmed she had established a special fund to help Ms Latek with the funeral costs.
“We are all just hoping now that Matteus’s body will be found too so that Joanna can bring both her husband and her son back home to Poland for burial, and we’ve set up a special fund to help her with the costs as some small comfort to her,” said Ms Goeb.
Ms Goeb appealed to people to make a donation to the Piotr and Matteus Fund at Bank of Ireland, Kenmare, Sort Code 90 57 31, Account No 28414889.
