A young west Donegal man drowned early yesterday while trying to cross a sea channel as a short-cut home.
It is believed Mr Adrian Greene (21), from Ranafast in the Donegal Gaeltacht, was taking a short-cut home from a disco at Bunbeg when he got into difficulties in the Bunbeg channel just after 4 a.m. The 400-yard channel crossing would have left him less than a mile from his home, thus avoiding a 10-mile walk by road.
A neighbour who was with him also got into difficulties but succeeded in returning to shore from where he raised the alarm. Gardai say both men were within 100 yards of the shore when they decided to return due to deep waters, and it was at this stage that Mr Greene, an experienced swimmer, encountered difficulties.
His body was initially washed out of the channel but was located by an Air Corps helicopter crew two hours later in four feet of water less than half-a-mile from his home. The Sligo-based helicopter joined the local Bunbeg Coast Guard and gardai in the search.
The Bunbeg channel, which separates Ranafast from Bun beg, is relatively safe to cross at low tide, but there is a strong current when the tide is high, which was the case when Mr Greene got into difficulties. Another young man from the locality was drowned in similar circumstances in the same place 13 years ago.
Mr Greene's body was removed to Letterkenny General Hospital where a post-mortem will be carried out today.
The local Fine Gael TD, Mr Dinny McGinley, who lives just yards from the scene of the incident, described it as a terrible tragedy.