THE DEPARTMENT OF Foreign Affairs has confirmed the identity of a second Irish man who died in the earthquake that hit the New Zealand city of Christchurch last month.
JJ O’Connor, 40, had been missing since the quake on 22 February after he became trapped under the rubble of the Pyne Gould Guinness building in central Christchurch.
Rescuers had been working to free him and other colleagues from the rubble but last week they said there was no hope of finding any more survivors in the wreckage.
The DFA has confirmed to TheJournal.ie this afternoon that O’Connor’s body has now been recovered and identified.
He was originally from Lisareen in Aberdorney, Co Kerry,
He is survived by his wife Sarah who is expecting the couple’s second child in May. They already have a two-year-old son, Daniel.
The family had been living in New Zealand since last September when O’Connor came to work at the Pyne Gould Guinness accountancy firm.
It is understood that he will be buried in New Zealand.
The confirmation of O’Connor’s death brings the number of Irish people who died in the Christchurch quake to two.
Owen McKenna, 40 and originally from Co Monaghan, had been resident in New Zealand when he perished in the quake which has so far claimed the lives of 166 people.
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