The bodies of three fishermen from a fishing boat that sank almost a fortnight ago have been recovered from the seas off Cork.
The remains of Wael Mohammed were the latest discovered in the area around the sunken trawler Tit Bonhomme in Glandore Bay in West Cork. The body of the father-of-two was found by a team of civilian divers near where the boat went down off Adam Island, near the entrance to the harbor on January 15.
However, two fishermen still remain missing. Skipper Michael Hayes and Said Mohammed have yet to be discovered. the crew of the boat was Irish and Egypitian.
Last Thursday, teams of Naval Service and Garda Water Unit divers recovered the remains of Attea Shaban and Kevin Kershaw. The discovery and recovery of Wael Mohammed's body was made by a team of civilian divers from Union Hall and Baltimore, who were diving under direction from the Irish Coast Guard and Naval Service, who are coordinating the search.
One of the divers, Aodh O'Donnell, said he and fellow divers were diving from a rigid inflatable boat when they found Mr. Mohammed's remains at about 9.30am.
"We were diving around 250-300 meters from where the Tit Bonhomme went down on the western side of Adam Island when we came upon the poor man's body in about seven meters of water and we brought him aboard," he said.
There were emotional scenes back on the pier as Mohammed's remains were brought ashore to a temporary morgue set up in a tent on the pier side where he was identified by his brother, Abdul Mohammed, who survived the tragedy.
Abdul later joined about 50 members of the Egyptian community as they gathered behind a hearse carrying his brother's remains. The mourners a were turned towards Mecca in prayer.
Mr. Mohammed's cousin, Morad Gharib, said they had not just prayed for his cousin but also for the families of the other men recovered and the families of those still waiting for their loved ones to be found.
"We prayed God would put an end to the waiting for the other families and that we would find the other two bodies today. It's a relief Wael's body was found, but we won't be fully relieved until the other two bodies are found," he said.
