Rescue workers find body of young man in river

Gene McKenna - Irish Independent December 27th 2002

THE body of a young man was recovered from a river on Christmas Day following a prolonged search by a group of rescue workers.

For six weeks, the Boyne Fishermen's Rescue and Recovery Service had searched the river Boyne for the body of young Drogheda man Niall McGahey.

They had made a pledge to his grieving parents Mr and Mrs John McGahey of College Rise that they would find his body for them by Christmas.

Working relentlessly along the river' in some of the worst conditions of the winter, the 42 members of the service never spared themselves in their singleminded quest. All voluntary

workers; they searched the river in shifts from 5am to 12 midnight every day.

Giving up their free time in the run-up to Christmas, they never abandoned hope that they could deliver on their promise.

Finally, at lunch-time on Christmas Day, the Boyne gave up its latest victim as members of the service recovered the body of Niall.

There had been fears that the body had been swept away to sea.

His body was found near the Boyne Viaduct which carries the main Dublin-Belfast railway line and was just a couple of hundred yards away from where the man had fallen in.

It was a huge relief to the family who, together with local gardai, paid tribute to the recovery workers for their trojan efforts.

In another tragic twist, the recovery team also found the body of a teenage Drogheda girl on Monday.

She had been, missing only for a matter of hours when her body was recovered. And a member of the rescue team patrolling the river had prevented another tragedy on Christmas Eve as a local youth almost fell into the river.

The chairman of the Drogheda-based service, Michael Hodgins, said they had been determined to fulfil their promise to the McGahey family.

"It is harrowing enough for a family hit by a tragedy like this but when the body is not recovered, it is even harder- for them," he said.

© Irish Independent