As family and friends struggle to come to terms with the deaths of two men who drowned off Inisbofin, Co Galway, at the weekend investigations into how the tragedy occurred are continuing.
Former Mayo GAA footballer Ger Feeney (56 ), originally from Ballintubber but based in Castlebar, was laid to rest yesterday. The funeral of his close friend and well-known businessman Donal McEllin (63 ) from Castlebar will take place today. The two men tragically lost their lives after getting into difficulty while attempting to board a cruiser anchored in Inisbofin harbour, off Connemara coast, in the early hours of last Sunday.
Separate investigations have been launched in an effort to discover the circumstances surrounding the deaths. Post mortems were carried out at University Hospital Galway and preliminary results released on Monday found that the men had died from drowning.
The 41-feet motor cruiser, Quo Vadis, owned by the late Mr McEllin has been taken to Galway Docks and is due to be examined by a consultant for the Marine Casualty Investigation Board. A Garda investigation, headed by Supt Tony O’Donnell of Clifden station, is also taking place with interviews being conducted on Inishbofin and Cleggan, and at Rosmoney near Westport.
Both men had spent a number of hours socialising on Inisbofin Island on Saturday evening before attempting to return to the cruiser at around 2am on Sunday. They were accompanied to the pier by a concerned islander who shone his car headlights on their rigid inflatable boat as it made its way to the anchored cruiser. It is understood that both men were wearing lifejackets but that one of them may have got into difficulty while trying to board the cruiser. The alarm was raised when the body of one man was washed ashore, the second body was found under the the dinghy by the RNLI Clifden Lifeboat later.
