A deep sea diver told yesterday how he tried to save the life of a colleague who died during a diving expedition on a German second World War U-boat on the sea-bed 70m below the surface off Malin Head in Co Donegal.
The diver who died was Michael Hanrahan (45), Glendooher Park, Rathfarnham, in Dublin. He is survived by his wife Maire and by their children - Ian, Stephen, Orla and Áine.
Mr Hanrahan, a diver with almost 30 years' experience, was part of a four-man team filming the wreck of U-boat 778 16 miles off the coast. The project was sponsored by Derry City Council, which had hoped to raise the vessel and put it on permanent display on the river Foyle.
Mr Hanrahan got into difficulties on Tuesday afternoon as the divers were preparing to surface, an operation which took two hours to complete.
He was the camera operator and was accompanied by divers Geoff Millar, Bernard Kelly and Paul Lewis, all of them from Derry and members of the Dive North Technical Diving Club.
Mr Lewis said as he was the acting safety diver he entered the water about half an hour after the group to check on their equipment and that they were okay.
"I moved down the shot line and got visual contact with Michael and Geoff who were the last to come up. The filming was over and the three were returning up the shot line.
"Suddenly Mick let go of the line and tilted backwards. He fell back onto the surface of the U-boat. I got to him and tried to get him to take air from the spare tank and spare regulator. He had lost his mouthpiece."
Mr Lewis said he was assisted by Geoff Millar and they both tried to get Mr Hanrahan to take a breath but he wasn't breathing.
"He seemed as if he had taken a seizure. It all happened in just a few minutes. There was nothing we could do. We had to leave because of our concerns in terms of our own energy and oxygen."
Mr Hanrahan's body was recovered yesterday morning by another diving team and was brought to Letterkenny General Hospital for a postmortem examination. His wife Maire was at Port Ronan with their son, Stephen, when the body was brought ashore.
There are more than 100 second World War shipwrecks off Malin Head.