Sailors were warned about weather before Lough Ree drowning tragedy

The ship the three men were on when the sinking incident happened. Source: MCIB

Updated at 11.50pm

DETAILS OF A tragic drowning incident that happened last March have been released by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB).

The incident happened on Lough Ree, Hodson Bay in Athlone, Co Roscommon on 20 March 2014 and saw two individuals drown and a third admitted to hospital.

Before embarking, the three men had been warned by a local man that the weather was not good and that they should delay their journey.

What happened?

The six men involved, from Portadown, Co Armagh, were going on a fishing trip on Lough Ree.

After arriving at Hodson Bay, the first four set off, travelling up the river in both of the boats to establish a camping area in the vicinity of Carnagh.

Upon reaching the camping area, one of the men set off back down the river towards Hodson Bay to collect the two remaining members of the party.

He successfully met up with the two members of the party that had remained at Hodson Bay. It was at this point that the group was warned by a local man that the weather was a hazard and that they should delay their journey.

Aerial overview of the area the incident happened in Source: MCIB

The men set off from Hodson Bay at around 2.30pm to go and meet the other three members of the party near their camp site.

By 3.15pm, the others had grown concerned that the three men had not arrived at the camp. Two of the party set out to search for the other three, with one man remaining behind to look after the camp site.

Shortly after this RNLI were called by the local man who had expressed his concern about the three men who had travelled up the river from Hodson Bay.

Two men were recovered from the water. One was brought to hospital and later discharged. The other was pronounced dead later that day.

Searches continued in the area for the third member of the party for a number of weeks afterwards.

The boat they had been travelling in was found on 1 April and the remains of the third member of the party was found in the same area on 6 April.

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