The worst fears of a family and community were realised yesterday when the body of a 46-year-old man was taken from the Moy river near Foxford.
Garda divers had been concentrating their search for Séamus McElhatton, a separated man who had been living in Ballina, on a two-to-three-mile stretch of river below the weirs in Foxford.
The body was discovered by Garda divers just before midday.
On Sunday the body of Kiera Henry (27), a friend and work colleague of the missing man, was taken from the river near a jetty 1½ miles below the town.
A postmortem at Mayo General Hospital on Monday established that Ms Henry, who was originally from the village of Ballydrum, Swinford, died from drowning.
After being removed from the river yesterday, Mr McElhatton's body was taken to the hospital in Mayo for a postmortem.
Mr McElhatton and Ms Henry were last seen alive in Foxford on Thursday night. They were together outside Maloney's Pub around 11.20pm.
The alarm was raised at the weekend when Ms Henry's purse, with her name inside, was found by a council worker on the riverbank near the main bridge in Foxford.
One theory being explored by gardaí last night was that Ms Henry, who had been working on a Fás scheme in Ballina, slipped and that Mr McElhatton, who was a colleague on the scheme, fell into the river when he tried to save her.
Supt Ken Brennan, of Swinford Garda station, who is heading the investigation, said yesterday that Garda divers carried out a risk assessment before going underwater for the first time yesterday.
Water levels were high in the river with a strong current.
Ms Henry will be buried tomorrow in Kilconduff Cemetery.