A MAN and a woman whose bodies were discovered in the Grand Canal beneath a bridge on the Suir Road in Inchicore, Dublin, on Saturday, are thought to have died after one fell into the water – possibly as a result of icy conditions – and the other made a rescue attempt.
The bodies of the 29-year-old man and 30-year-old woman were discovered by a passerby just after noon on Saturday.
The bodies, both of which were discovered in the water, were removed by gardaí at about lunchtime and taken to the City Morgue in Marino where postmortems were being carried out yesterday.
A spokesman in the Garda press office would not speculate as to the cause of death.
Gardaí were awaiting the results of the postmortem examinations which were continuing yesterday evening.
The deaths are not being treated as suspicious. Both individuals were known to gardaí for minor offences including drug taking. The bodies were discovered a few hundred metres from the Suir Road Luas stop.
Local resident Tony Healy said the area under the Ann Devlin Bridge where the Luas passes was “notorious” for drinking and drug taking.
“You would get a lot of homeless and underage drinking under that bridge,” he said.
Local Fine Gael Cllr Clare Byrne said that, due to the concealed nature of the area, it was “a known spot for drinking and drug taking”.
“It is actually quite open but you would have to have a reason to look down unless you were walking your dog across the bridge.”
A local woman who witnessed the gardaí recovering the bodies said she had previously contacted gardaí to have a couch removed from under the bridge as people would congregate to drink and take drugs there.
She said the area by the canal was icy on Saturday and that gardaí had used ropes to climb up and down an embankment beside which the bodies were discovered.
“When I looked down I saw a body face down in the water in a navy blue jacket. I got such a shock,” she added.
Gardaí in Kilmainham are continuing their investigations into the deaths.