Couple search for mystery hero ‘Barry’

 

A young couple are looking for a man who came to their rescue in a dramatic early morning river rescue. The ‘have-a-go’ hero exited the scene just as quickly as he appeared and the lucky couple didn’t get a chance to thank him.

“We have to find ‘Barry’, we have to thank him,” Andy Carroll and his partner Sheena Johnston say, recalling the incident that occurred on the River Erne at Belturbet shortly before 9am last Monday morning, May 11.
Andy fell into the water while attempting to moor the 24-foot cruiser the couple had bought only the Friday before. His heavy clothing, coupled with the slick chill whipping across the water, sapped his energy and slowly began pulling him under.
Clinging to the jetty for dear life, his rising fear was only initially witnessed by Sheena, a native of Canningstown, who was panicking on the boat as it began to drift further away from shore.
“I’ve never felt cold like it,” remembers Andy after falling in.
“I must’ve been holding on for 10, maybe 15 minutes. I kept being dragged down and under the jetty with the way the current was going. Sheena was still on the boat, tied to the mooring stop but not fully and drifting away. I couldn’t reach her or the boat so I just hung on hoping someone would come.”
It was then that a silhouetted figure came at speed down the jetty gantry and, with one arm, pulled Andy to safety. He then reeled the couple’s boat back by the rope.
“It was a split-second thing. One minute I was thinking ‘that’s it, I’m a goner’, and the next he was there, pulling me out of the water with one arm,” says Andy.
“We only got his name, ‘Barry’ I think it was. He spoke with an English accent. But we know nothing else about him. He asked if were alright and then just disappeared.”

In their search for ‘Barry’, Andy and Sheena have left their contact details with The Anglo-Celt. Anyone who might be able to assist them in tracking down and thanking ‘Barry can contact the office on 0494331100.