Shannon search for missing man continues

The search for a local man missing almost two weeks continues today along the Shannon.

A number of army boats have been involved since the weekend trawling the waters south of Athlone Town Bridge, aided by Lough Ree RNLI, Athlone Sub Aqua club and other clubs in the region along with the Garda Air Support unit, according to Sgt Andrew Haran from Athlone Garda Station.

He told the Westmeath Independent on Monday that the search is ongoing along a stretch of water from the bridge towards Burgess Park and Clonmacnois and involves a number of boats.

In a statement, Athlone Sub Aqua Club said that since last weekend there have been a number of large scale underwater searches involving divers from the Midlands region as part of the joint agreement with the Irish Coast Guard and the Irish Underwater council.

The missing man, who is in his 50s, was last seen in the area of the Strand, Athlone on Thursday, January 11 around 7.30pm.

 

“Specially trained search and recovery divers from Athlone, Roscommon, Lough Ree and Longford Sub-Aqua clubs have been searching the river below the weir wall in Athlone. Due to the nature of the river in flood this is a very hazardous tasking with poor visibility and underwater hazards.

 

"In addition to this, surface searches have been continuing throughout the week by Athlone Sub-Aqua SAR in harsh winter weather,” the sub aqua club statement explained, adding that garda underwater unit have also conducted a number of searches along the Shannon. In addition, Civil Defence personnel have carried out drone searches in the area in recent days.