An Air Corp helicopter has arrived in Athlone to join in the search for a Swiss tourist missing since Sunday evening.
The 71-year-old man, a regular visitor to the area, has been named locally as Walter Borner. The body of his wife Ruth, a features journalist who was in her 60s, was discovered on Monday by fishermen at Warren Point, near Lecarrow in Co Roscommon.
A major search involving seven sub aqua clubs is now planned on the lake for tomorrow.
The couple's cabin cruiser was found with its engine still running on the shore of Inchmore Island yesterday. They were last seen on the lake on Sunday evening.
Gardaí are working with Interpol to contact the next of kin.
Close friend Ray Byrne, who has known the couple for ten years, called them 'icons of the River Shannon'.
The missing man is a retired Marketing Executive with Swiss Air and was one of the Managing Editors of The Shell Guide to the River Shannon.
