The funeral took place yesterday of a father of three who died in a tragic accident during a mountaineering climb in Connemara at the weekend.
Francis McKeon (56 ), a civil servant from County Cavan, died after falling up to 20 metres during the climb in the Twelve Bens (also known as Twelve Pins ) mountain range, near Kylemore.
It is understood that Department of Agriculture employee was with a fellow climber but got into difficulty and fell up to 20 metres and received fatal injuries at around 4.30pm. Emergency services were called immediately and gardai, along with Galway Mountain Rescue and the Malin Head Coastguard coordinated a rescue operation.
The Galway Mountain Rescue Team set out to the Inagh Valley as an Irish Coastguard rescue helicopter searched for the man. Mr McKeon was located a four-hour hike away from the Galway Mountain Rescue team. The climber was airlifted at 6pm to University Hospital Galway where he was pronounced dead. A post mortem was carried out but gardai are treating it as a tragic accident.
Mr McKeon is survived by his wife Catherine and children Aisling, Fiachra, and Shona.
