Tragedy is something that we have become all to much familiar with

ONCE again this town and locality was stopped in its tracks.

Last Tuesday morning, the rituals of normal life continued - breakfast rush, school runs, getting to work and going about a daily routine - but the town was stunned as news and details of the tragedy off the Mayo coastline emerged.

A Coastguard helicopter was lost at sea, the four crew members were missing. One of the crew members was from Dundalk and the town and local area was stunned as word spread of the tragedy and the fears for the crew and local man, Captain Mark Duffy.

Tragically we recognise the signs of that shock, as the pain of such news is fresh in our memories and it only seems like yesterday, since the news that Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was shot dead by armed robbers at Lordship Credit Union in January 2013.

That scar had barely closed over, when it was reopened by the shooting dead of a second Garda, when Garda Tony Golden was killed while attending a domestic incident in Omeath in October 2015.

We will ever forget the dark days when those two young, married family men, were violently taken in the prime of the life, while going about their job and protecting their community.

The images of their funerals are ingrained in our minds as a blue sea of gardai joined the local community to pay their respects.

Now for a third time in just over four years, this community has been plunged into another tragedy, as another member of our emergency services, a family man, going about his job and protecting our community is lost along with his two colleagues, winch operator Paul Ormsby and winchman Ciaran Smith as well as commanding officer, Captain Dara Fitzpatrick who was mercifully found in the immediate hours after their helicopter was reported missing off the Mayo coast.

Our shock and loss is nothing compared to the suffering of Captain Mark Duffy’s family. We cannot imagine their pain and loss as they await news from the search operation off Blackrock lighthouse.

The community showed their solidarity with the family at a candlelit vigil at the sundial on Blackrock’s Main Street on Saint Patrick’s night as hundreds joined the family in the simple ceremony led by local clergy.

There is no doubt that the community support and will be ongoing in the weeks and months ahead.

At present there seems nothing much to hope for, other than a break in the weather to allow the search operation get on with their work to bring the missing crew of Rescue 116 home to their families.