A man and his daughter drowned in Howth harbour in Dublin yesterday afternoon after their car went off the east pier.
Gardai declined to name the victims last night, but local sources said they were from Baldoyle, a suburb near Howth. The man is understood to be the skipper of a large Howth-based fishing vessel and is well known among the fishing community.
The bodies were brought to St Vincent's Hospital and the victims' family and close relatives were being informed of their deaths by gardai last night.
Gardai declined to speculate on the circumstances behind the incident and were awaiting the results of post-mortems. Officers said the man was about 50 and the girl was nine.
Locals were in shock last night, with many describing the incident as highly unusual. They said few vehicles drove down the pier and it was generally a quiet part of the harbour, mainly used by walkers.
According to gardai, the man's dark blue Ford Fiesta was driven on to the east pier at about 12.20 p.m. It travelled a considerable distance up the pier, reversed and then appeared to go over the edge near some steps. At first the car floated near the surface but then it sank rapidly, according to witnesses.
The witnesses claimed a man jumped into the water and tried to free the occupants but banged his head and had to climb back on to the pier. However, this could not be confirmed by gardai last night. The man's body was retrieved first and later in the afternoon the girl's body was located.
A barrier normally blocks entry to the pier, but yesterday a group of workmen was breaking up old boats and the car was able to enter.
According to locals, the man worked on a vessel owned by a local family and had several children.
Mr Jonathan Cooke, who works in Ann's newsagent opposite the pier, said the community was deeply shocked by the incident.
"It's a very quite part of the harbour and you would never expect anything like this to happen. The only cars that normally go down there are on official business," he said.
The owner of the local chip shop, Mr Roberto Caira, said the incident was "awful".
He said the first thing most people knew about it was when the Garda cars and fire brigades started arriving.