COUPLE FOUND ‘SAFE AND WELL’
A MAJOR search operation – involving the use of two helicopters and drones – for a couple missing for six days had a happy ending yesterday (Monday) when the man and woman were found ‘safe and well’.
A host of emergency services had been mobilised in challenging conditions in the South Wexford area to search for the Dublin couple, reported missing since Tuesday.
Fears for the safety of Bernard and Carol Devine, both aged 53, were heightened after their silver BMW 3 series was found down a laneway near Carne Beach.
The couple are understood to have no ties to Wexford, however, when their concerned family reported them as missing, gardaí managed to trace their phones to the Rosslare/Carne area. After the car was found on Saturday evening, the search for the couple from Portmarnock was stepped up.
The efforts were co-ordinated from the Community Centre in Our Lady’s Island and saw gardaí joined by the Coast Guard, the RNLI and the Civil Defence, as well as concerned locals who made their way out in sheets of rain searching fields, wetlands, sheds and outbuildings in the areas of Carne, Ballytrent, St Helen’s and Our Lady’s Island lake.
Air support was provided by the Rescue 117 and garda helicopters while drones also took to the sky in a bid to spot the missing couple. The garda dog unit were also deployed on Sunday evening, but there appeared to be no sign of Bernard and Carol.
It emergaged that this was not the first time that the couple had gone missing. In September of this year, they were reported missing and their car was found with the keys in the ignition in Aughnacloy, Co Tyrone. Thankfully, on that occasion, there was also a positive outcome and the couple were again found safe and well.
While search conditions were dreadful on Sunday, the sun shone yesterday (Monday) and the search resumed. It is believed that Bernard and Carol were eventually discovered safe and well near St Helen’s. The family said they wished to thank all of the emergency services for their efforts as well as the locals in the area who were so supportive in their time of need.
In a brief statement, Gardaí said: ‘Bernard and Carol have been located safe and well. We would like to thank the public and the media for their assistance in this matter.No further action is required.’