Hopes were fading last night for the safety of two Cork brothers, Brendan and Denis Kelly, both in their late 40s, whose 16ft fibreglass speedboat was washed up on rocks at Knockadoon, near Ballycotton.
The brothers had purchased the boat, which was fitted with a powerful outboard engine, some months ago and had gone to Ballycotton last Saturday to test it out. They were joined by a friend, Mr Joe Ryan, also from the Ballyvolane area of Cork.
The two brothers left Ardnahinch some time between noon and 1 p.m. on Saturday and headed for Ballycotton Bay. Mr Ryan met them in Ballycotton and they had lunch together in a pub.
The three men set out across the bay shortly afterwards. However, as the high-speed craft was being put through manoeuvres about six miles from Ballycotton, it flipped over in the water.
It is understood that all three began swimming towards the shore and, although the sea was choppy, they managed to remain together in the water for a considerable time.
Mr Ryan is believed to have told local gardai that he kept in contact with his friends as they swam towards the shore, but that at one point there was no trace of them. It took him more than two hours to reach the shoreline, after which he had to scale a steep cliffface to raise the alarm.
A full-scale search was begun by the emergency services at 4.45 p.m. on Saturday. Local fishing boats joined in the search, as did helicopters from Waterford and Shannon and the naval vessel LE Aoife. Civil Defence personnel and gardai, as well as local cliff rescue services, were also involved.
However, as light faded last night, a spokesman for the local lifeboat service said that the best they could hope for now would be recovery of the bodies of the two brothers. "That far from shore, and given the temperature of the water in these parts just now, it is very hard to see how anyone could survive", the spokesman said.
As well as recovering the upturned hull of the speedboat, the rescue services are believed to have found its fuel tank, lifejackets and a shoe.