GARDAÍ IN Cork are to prepare a file for the Coroner's Court following the death of a 13-year-old boy who got into difficulties while swimming in the river Lee on Sunday night and drowned.
Kieran Cummins from Bride Valley Park, Fair Hill, had been with friends at Fitzgerald's Park on the Mardyke when he went to swim out to a pontoon anchored midway across the Lee just downstream of Daly's Bridge at about 8.30pm.
According to gardaí, Kieran managed to swim out to the pontoon but when returning to the river bank at Fitzgerald's Park, he got into difficulty, was pulled downstream by the tide, which was starting to ebb, and went under the water.
Sgt Pat Murphy, who was on motorbike patrol in the area, jumped into the river to search for the missing youngster but was unable to locate him.
"He was swimming alone and his friends had tried to get to him when they saw he was in trouble - one of them, a young girl, had got to him and was very near to him and was trying to pull him but she had to come back herself due to her being tired," Sgt Murphy told The Neil Prendeville Showon Cork's 96FM yesterday morning.
A search operation was launched involving gardaí and the Coast Guard who tasked a helicopter with heat-seeking equipment to join in the search while Coast Guard and Civil Defence personnel also combed the river in a number of vessels.
A team of Naval Service divers also joined in the search and set up arc lights as darkness fell.
During their third sweep of the river, they recovered Kieran's body shortly after midnight on Sunday in about three metres of water near where he disappeared.