Hundreds attend funeral of fisherman

Hundreds of mourners have attended the funeral of 22-year-old Donall Gibson, who died after the trawler he was working on sank off the coast of County Down.

His coffin was carried into the church in Downpatrick this morning, by the Dundalk Sub Aqua rescue and recovery unit, who recovered his body on Sunday afternoon.

Requiem mass was held at St Patrick's church and was conducted by the Parish Priest, Father Sean Rogan.

Meanwhile, the search has continued for the body of Connor Bogues who has also been missing since the vessel sank last Thursday.

An exclusion zone around the wreck has been lifted and civilian divers re-joined the search for the 24-year-old today.

The captain of the Greenhill is the only member of the crew to have survived. He was rescued shortly after the boat sank by members of the RNLI and was treated in hospital for hypothermia.

Vigils have been held in the fishing village for the past three nights, and members of all denominations and traditions have attended to offer their support to the families of the victims.

Some of the volunteers taking part in the search have appealed for funding to have a dedicated team of fully trained and equipped volunteer divers based in the area, to allow for a quicker rescue operations to be launched if anything like this should happen again.

(EF/SP)