A POSTMORTEM is expected to be carried out in France today on the body of an Irishman who got into difficulty and died just about 1km from the French coast while attempting to swim the English Channel.
Paraic Casey (45) from Co Cork was just 1.5km from Calais when he took ill at about 1.30am yesterday morning and, despite the best efforts of his support crew on an escort boat and French medical personnel, he died later in a French hospital.
Yesterday, Kevin Murphy of the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation (CSPF), which co-ordinates attempts to swim the English Channel, issued a statement in which the federation expressed its sympathies to Mr Casey’s wife, Riana Parsons.
Ms Parsons was among supporters on an escort boat accompanying Mr Casey and was present when he took ill and the emergency services were alerted.
The support team brought Mr Casey aboard and raised the alarm. A French coast guard helicopter dropped a medical team on to the escort boat where they worked on him before he was transferred to hospital in Calais.
“Paraic was an amazing, healthy, tough, loving husband, friend, brother, uncle, son, nephew and cousin whose recent passion for swimming brought him to great places,” said Ms Parsons. “I would like to thank everyone for their love and support.”
Mr Casey was swimming to raise funds for both the Society of St Vincent de Paul and Marymount Hospice in Cork. The St Vincent de Paul last night issued a statement expressing its “shock and sadness” at Mr Casey’s death during the charity swim.
According to a CSPF statement, Mr Casey, who was wearing a wetsuit, underwent a standard medical examination before the swim and was passed fit, and he had informed the federation that he had completed a six-hour training swim.
Mr Casey, who worked at Fota Wildlife Park in east Cork, began training for the cross-channel swim about 12 months ago and was a member of the Sandycove Swimmers who practise open-sea swimming at Sandycove near Kinsale.
Mr Casey and another Cork swimmer, Jennifer Lane, had travelled to Britain two weeks ago to attempt the cross-channel swim, which on average is 45km long and takes 15-16 hours. Bad weather conditions had prevented them and they returned to Ireland.
However, last Thursday, they were contacted by the CSPF to say weather conditions this weekend would be favourable and they both returned to Dover. Mr Casey beginning his swim at about 9am on Saturday morning.
It is believed Ms Lane began her bid at about midnight on Saturday and completed the swim in approximately 13 hours, unaware that her swimming companion had been taken ill.
