Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Tragic diver brothers die in accident at quarry
‘Map society’ lie to local almost blows cover of £4m op to nab suspect
TWO brothers drowned yesterday in an accident after one sibling died trying to save the other.
The pair – one in his 30s and the other in his 40s – had been diving in a disused slate quarry in Portroe, Co Tipperary, when one got into trouble.
One brother came to the surface to raise the alarm but then plunged back into the water to go back and help his sibling.
One of the brothers is believed to have made it to the surface and managed to get out of the water but died a short time later.
After a search by other divers the body of the second brother was recovered.
The tragedy unfolded at the Portroe Dive Centre, Portroe Quarry, around 1.30pm.
The two men’s bodies have been removed from the scene to University of Limerick where postmortems are expected to take place.
The water in the quarry is believed to be deep – almost 40 metres deep in places – and is used by divers from all over Ireland.
A major search and rescue operation got under way involving Killaloe Coast Guard, gardai, and ambulance personnel.
The Coast Guard search and rescue helicopter, based at Shannon Airport, was tasked to respond, but it’s crew was stood down after the bodies were recovered and pronounced dead at the scene.
A Garda spokesman said: “Gardai attended an incident in Portroe, Co. Tipperary, where two males have drowned.”
“The males are believed to have been diving when they got into trouble at approximately 1.30pm.
“The bodies have been removed to Limerick University Hospital where post mortems are due to take place.”
Garda sources said they were treating the incident as a “tragic accident”.
A spokesman for the dive centre was not available for comment.
FBI agents almost blew their covert £4million operation to capture Ghislaine Maxwell when a lie to locals near her home backfired.
Armed agents were all set to storm the British socialite’s New Hampshire hideout after a year-long hunt – when a man annoyed by the sound of planes circling overhead went to complain.
One local said: “The planes had been buzzing around since 5am. They were a nuisance. We began calling each other to find out what the noise was about. Finally one snapped and drove down to where the vehicles were lined up.
“He demanded to know who they were and they replied they were from the
New England Aerial map society – it was totally fictitious. The problem the FBI had was that the guy is an expert in maps and geology. It’s what he does for a living.
“He saw straight through it and asked to see inside their van but was harshly told it was off-limits. He told his wife, and she called the police on the FBI. It was hilarious.”
The FBI arrested Maxwell, 58, last week on sex trafficking charges in connection with former boyfriend, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Yesterday, she remained in the Merrimack County Department of Corrections in Boscawen, New Hampshire, ahead of her transfer to New York later this week. Maxwell had hidden in Colorado, Wyoming and then Massachusetts before buying a £860,000 156-acre home – called Tuckedaway – in Bradford, New Hampshire, for cash.
Last Thursday it was stormed by 24 armed FBI agents who cut through padlocks on gates and broke down her door.
Stunned Maxwell was dressed in jogging bottoms and a T-shirt when handcuffed. A close friend of Prince Andrew, she is charged with grooming three girls under 18, but has denied any wrongdoing. She faces up to 35 years if convicted.
Prosecutors claim she took part in the
ON FBI OP
sexual abuse carried out by Epstein and encouraged girls to meet the financier and engage in sex acts with him.
She is also accused of lying in 2016 depositions while being sued by victim Virginia Giuffre that she had never groomed or had sex with underage girls.
Her arrest has increased pressure on the Prince, 60, to speak to the FBI.
Giuffre accused Andrew of sleeping with her three times in 2001 while she was Epstein’s “teenage sex slave”. The Prince vehemently denies her claims.
Over the weekend, pictures emerged of Maxwell and actor Kevin Spacey sitting on thrones at Buckingham Palace in 2002. Epstein committed suicide aged 66 last August as he awaited trial for underage sex trafficking.