Canadian lost off of county Donegal - Ireland

[DandyDon]

UPDATE: Hopes fading for diver missing off Donegal coast

Hopes are fading of finding a Canadian diver alive who has been missing in waters off the Fanad Head since Saturday afternoon.
Search teams involving the Sligo-based 118 helicopter, Lough Swilly Lifeboat and up to four local boats took part in two days of searches since the alarm was raised around 4 pm on Saturday.
A spokesman for Lough Swilly Lifeboat said the diver, who is in his 60's, went missing 17 miles north of Fanad Lighthouse in “challenging” sea conditions with five metre swells on Saturday.
The search continued on Saturday until 10.30pm when light faded.
It resumed early on Sunday morning and took place over the course of the day.
A team of divers arrived at the scene at 2pm today and undertook a four hour dive mission to search the wreck that diver had been exploring.
Weather
Spokesman for the Lough Swilly Lifeboat, Joe Joyce, said sea conditions were difficult at the time.
“Weather condition on Saturday were not great with five metres swells. It was a very heavy sea,” he told the Donegal Democrat.
It is understood a group of divers set out from Downings pier on a charter boat on Saturday morning with the intention of diving the WWII Pinto wreck which is submerged in 65 metes of water 17 miles off Fanad Head.
A second dive team carried out a dive this evening, and if it was unsuccessful the search will resume tomorrow morning for a third day.

 

[DandyDon]

Recovered: Body of missing Canadian diver found off the coast of Ireland

 

[blac86]

What happened hear? Did one member of a team get blown off a dive and lost?

 

[Tzymische]

There's no information yet what exactly happened. But it will be covered by the full coroner court inquest with coroner's verdict and all results will be published. I would imagine few months from now.

 

[sweir]

To date I have not seen the identity of the Canadian diver who died. Unclear if he was a resident of Ireland or a visiting diver from Canada. No clue as to what province he is from. Information would be much appreciated.

 

[Tzymische]

authorities usually don't release any information here until identity is confirmed and family notified.
Latest I heard, was day before yesterday, body was moved to Letterkenny General Hospital for post-mortem and identification. I would imagine - identity will be released some time next week.

 

[nadwidny]

He was Canadian from Edmonton, Alberta. I met him a few times and a lot of my dive buddies knew him well..

 

[Ayisha]

Sorry to hear that, Brian. Our condolences from the Ontario Underwater Council.

 

[ZombieZombie]

5m (15') swells? Is that normal to dive in those conditions there?

On the other side of the Atlantic I scratch a dive if the swells off Key Largo are above 6'.
Are the boats designed to allow safe boarding from the water? My closest to dying diving was in 8' swells and the bow just missed crashing down on my head. How do people manage to get near a boat safely in 15'?