Community mourns fisherman father

Gale force winds were battering the County Down coast

A County Down fishing community is mourning the death of Paul Bogues, the father of missing fisherman Connor.

Mr Bogues, 47, was struck by a wave and killed at Ardglass Harbour in County Down on Saturday.

He was leaning on the wall talking to some men when the wave washed over the pier. He fell and hit his head and was later pronounced dead in hospital.

In January, his 26-year-old son Connor died when his trawler sank near the same harbour. His body was never found.

Connor was one of two men who died when the fishing vessel, the Greenhill, sank.

The body of his colleague Donal Gibson, 22, was recovered, but a major search operation failed to locate the remains of Mr Bogues, a father-of-two from Ballynahinch.

We were just trying to get Mr Bogues away from the water's edge - if he had have been washed in by the tide you would never have got him out Michael Pleasants Fisherman

Fisherman Michael Pleasants said he was close to the scene at the time of the incident.

"I just heard a couple of boys shouting: 'Call an ambulance, call an ambulance'," he said.

"I sped down in the car to the pier and saw Mr Bogues just lying on the ground. I jumped out of the car and we dragged him down to the end of the pier - the waves were washing us off our feet.

"It was wild. It was storm force, with tonnes of water coming over the wall."

He said the force of the waves was so strong that several cars windows were smashed.

"We were just trying to get Mr Bogues away from the water's edge - if he had have been washed in by the tide you would never have got him out."

Mr Pleasants and several other fishermen managed to carry Mr Bogues toward the town to a waiting ambulance.

He said the whole experience had been a nightmare and that he felt he was lucky to be alive.

Fishing tragedies

South Down assembly member Jim Wells said the community's thoughts were with the family.

"It is just absolutely unimaginable, the whole community is rocked," he said.

"Mr Bogues regularly came down to the harbour, I suppose, in the hope that some day his son's body would be given up.

"He was also positive, in the sense that he was helping a support group that was being set up to look after and care for those who had lost loved ones in fishing tragedies."

The accident happened at Ardglass harbour

Alex Slater of the Fishermen's Mission said people who live in the small fishing village were devastated.

"He was a lovely man, a real gentleman - he wanted to help other seamen who had been struck by tragedy," he said.

"He liked to go down to Ardglass following Connor's disappearance, just to be there.

"It is important that we urge people not to go at this time of year near harbours, rocks or beaches because the weather conditions are so, so dangerous."