Top Rescue team thats saved hundreds and will never give up the search for a loved one

By LARISSA NOLAN - Sunday Mirror November 10th 2002

IRELAND'S heroes of the waves - men who stop at nothing to rescue people in distress on the island's waterways - have been nominated for a People Of The Year Award.

The Boyne Fishermen's Rescue and Recovery Service has been running for generations and its members have saved hundreds from drowning over the years.

These days, they are a highly professional rescue service with technology that allows them to be on call 24-hours a day in case of emergency. They have a fleet of eight boats and two jeeps to enable them to get to any rescue scene as quickly as possible. The voluntary group, which is based in Drogheda, Co Louth, also uses their expertise to help train rescue teams from all over Ireland.

But they impose another, sadder, duty on themselves - they often travel around the country to help recover the bodies of people missing in lakes, rivers and seas.

Unlike some recovery services though, the Boyne Fishermen never give up and will often spend MONTHS searching for the bodies of loved ones.

One person who helped organise that nomination is Mary Johnson, spokesperson of Families Who Have Lost Loved Ones In Drowning Tragedies. Mary says the efforts of the Boyne Fishermen have been a huge comfort to families that have been shattered by a drowning death. She said: "The Boyne Fishermen are a group of people who give up their free time to go out in all kinds of weather to rescue people and recover bodies.

"They can be called out any time of the day or night if there is a problem and on a recovery mission they can be on a stretch of water for weeks or even months, searching for a body. "While other rescue services give up after a while, the Boyne Fishermen never do. "It is a great comfort to families to know that there is someone who cares enough to keep on looking. "If you lose someone in a drowning tragedy, all you want is to be able to bring them home and bury them. "Not many people would be prepared to give up their time and energy for nothing. But these men just keep on going."

Mary herself knows how heartbreaking that search for the body of a loved one can be.

Just a few years ago, she lost her nephew, Paul McKenny, from Ardee, Co Louth, when he fell off a bridge and into the River Dee. He was just six years old. "It was such a tragedy - Paul used to take a short walk home every day after school, over a bridge and then straight into his house. "His mother Sharon waited for him at the door every afternoon. "It was a walk that took just a minute or two and he always came home with a little pal of his. "But on this day, he was on his own and he must have slipped on the bridge and gone under.

"At the time, it seemed like he had just disappeared - no search team was able to find him."

Mary said: "We couldn't start to grieve until his body had been found." It was three weeks before Paul's body was recovered and his family could say their last goodbyes.

Siobhan O'Hare, 35, a teacher from Dundalk, Co Louth, knows just how Mary felt during that terrible time.

Siobhan's sister Angela, 38, drowned in Dundalk Quay in 1999. Her body was not recovered for an agonising eight weeks. Siobhan said: "Our family know Angela took her own life. She was last seen out walking on Dundalk Quay in the pitch dark on St Stephens' night. "You don't do that without a reason."

The search began when Angela's bag was found at the quayside. For eight weeks, teams searched the water, but it seemed that Angela's body would never be found.

Siobhan said: "It was a living nightmare for my family. The other search teams were all losing hope and it made us feel desperate.

"Then the Boyne Fishermen came in. They were out in all kinds of winter weather conditions."

The search was called off when Angela O'Hare's body was washed up in Scotland.

"We owe the Boyne Fishermen so much for all the work they did for us. I can never thank them enough. "Of course, it was heartbreaking losing Angela in the first place. But the thought of never being able to bury her or say goodbye to her was so awful."

Boyne Fisherman Frank Smith said it is the desire to help others that drives the rescue service on: "We have saved dozens of people's lives, hundreds of people over the years. "And of course people are so grateful for the efforts - they owe you their lives. But we spend a lot of time carrying out recoveries, which is a heartbreaking job, but one that has to be done for the sake of the families.

"They feel such comfort when we bring their loved ones back to them."

© Sunday Mirror