Funeral for drowning victims today
Two drowning victims whose canoe capsized at the weekend are to be buried today.
A joint funeral Mass will be held in Castlewellan, Co Down, in the North, near the lake where cousins and best friends Rory McAlinden, 18, and Claire Steele, 16, died at around 1am on Saturday.
Team-mates at St Malachy's GAA club will form a guard of honour during one of the largest ever services in the area.
Rory died in a vain effort to save Claire and they were found arm in arm by underwater divers after a 10-hour search.
The town came to a standstill as the desperate search unfolded; local people keeping a vigil on the banks of the lake until the bad news was broken.
Rory was an apprentice joiner with a local building firm. Claire was in the fifth year at St Malachy's High School in Castlewellan.
Divers found the pair 30 feet from land, lying next to each other below the surface.
They were taken from the scene by ambulance for post-mortem examination.
The local community has been stunned and an Easter Sunday parade in Castlewellan was cancelled as a mark of respect.
