The family and friends of David White continued their grim vigil at the Grand Canal yesterday as the Garda Water Unit searched for his body near the Fonthill Road in Clondalkin, Dublin.
Mr White (18) from Carrickmore Avenue in Citywest was last sighted at about 4.30am on Sunday morning with his friend Shane Coughlan, whose body was recovered from the canal on Wednesday.
A postmortem by State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy revealed that the cause of death was drowning. Mr Coughlan (18), Millpark, Clondalkin, is the younger brother of Sheffield Wednesday player Graham Coughlan.
The young men had been at a party in a house in Clondalkin late on Saturday night before leaving to go to a 24-hour shop at an Esso filling station nearby.
Four divers from the Garda Water Unit began searching between the ninth and 10th lock, near the filling station, yesterday morning. However nothing was found and before midday they left this stretch of canal and returned to search the canal near the Fonthill Road.
This was where Mr Coughlan's body was recovered about noon on Wednesday. It is also where footwear, thought to belong to Mr White, was found on Tuesday evening. The discovery of a boot led to the canal search.
Mr White's parents, Marie and Alan, waited at the ninth lock as divers searched the water yesterday morning. When the search returned to the Fonthill Road they sat in their car on the bridge as divers continued their search underneath. The couple shook their heads silently when asked if they wanted to talk to the waiting media.
A digger scooped debris from the water as cars slowed down to see what was drawing the crowds to the windswept bridge. Gardaí later began searching the canal banks and this search will resume this morning in addition to an extended underwater search.
Dozens of the young men's friends came and went from the bridge all day, some pinning bouquets of flowers to the railings.
One card said: "Cocko and David, I'll miss you loads, you were a friend 4 life." Shane Coughlan was known as "Cocko" to his friends. Another bouquet carried the message: "Love u's forever 'n always, never to be forgotten. Miss ya loads, Coxy and all the boyz."
One bouquet held a photograph of a smiling Mr Coughlan, standing with three friends as they set out for a debs' ball.
"I hope that they find him for the family's sake," said David Maloney from Quarryvale as he watched the divers moving along the canal. "Every parent is thinking about them today. I have a teenage son exactly the same age."
Mr Maloney's son was friends with Mr White and had stood on the bridge the previous day, waiting for news.
Mark Mooney from Clondalkin was on his way to work when he stopped to see how the search was progressing.
"It must be awful for the family," he said. "I don't even know them, but like everyone else I stopped to have a look."
