THE victim of a drowning accident in Lough Erne over the weekend was a recent father of a young girl, Maise, who was just four and half months old.
Lee Rogers (20), from Enniskillen, died after a boat carrying six people, capsized between Portora gates and the Round ‘O’ on Friday evening.
The five others on the small rowing boat made it to safety, however, when Lee didn’t make it back to shore, a search team comprising a cross-section of emergency services searched Lough Erne before retreating overnight. On both sides of the lough shore family and friends gathered, all hoping to hear a positive update on events.
Early on Saturday morning, the family and friends of Lee were given the tragic news that Lee’s body had been recovered.
His largely-attended funeral took place yesterday, Tuesday, in St Michael’s Church, Enniskillen.
Lee’s sister, Lisa, described her brother as ‘soft-hearted’. He had recently became a father, to Maise, who, his family said, he ‘loved speaking about’.
“He was loving, bubbly and always cared for everyone else – he would have made friends with a stranger,” Lisa explained.
“He was soft-hearted, very much a mummy’s boy and lived life to the full.”
The alarm was raised at around 6pm on Friday evening when it emerged that a small rowing boat had capsized between the Round ‘O’ and Portora Lock Gates on Lower Lough Erne.
Emergency services including Police; RNLI Coastguard; underwater rescue teams and North West Search and Rescue team began searching the area, and a helicopter from Sligo coastguard patrolled from above.
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