Irish police resume Atlantic search for city student Craig

POLICE this morning resumed the search for the body of a 20-year-old University of Edinburgh student who was washed into the Atlantic ocean in the Irish Republic at the weekend.

It was confirmed yesterday that the missing man is Craig McIntyre, who is from Colinton and is studying German at the university.

His parents, Morag and David, are understood to have been in Ireland yesterday as the search continued amid heavy seas off the south-west coast of County Cork.

The third-year student is believed to have been taking photographs during an early morning walk along the beach near Baltimore on Saturday morning.

As he walked along the base of some cliffs, a large wave is believed to have swept him and a friend into the sea. The friend escaped and raised the alarm, but Mr McIntyre was washed away.

The former George Watson's pupil was on a study break in Heidelberg, Germany, and is believed to have taken a holiday to stay with a group of friends at a house in Baltimore.

Some items of clothing and a camera were reportedly found in the sea close to where Mr McIntyre was last seen.

Irish police divers searching for Mr McIntyre were joined by an Irish navy boat, a coastguard helicopter and a lifeboat, along with members of a local diving club.

They are searching along the coastline close to the area in which he went missing, which is known locally as Spain.

The family were away from their Colinton home last night, but a friend said: "He is not here, we are under the belief that it is him. He was in Ireland at the time and I have tried to contact him since I heard but without success.

"Obviously everyone is worried about him, but I don't want to say anything until I get in touch with his family."

Mr McIntyre recently posted his profile on a photography website. It said: "At the moment I'm a 19-year-old second year student at Edinburgh University, studying English Literature, German and Norwegian.

"I took up film photography when I was younger and have just recently changed to digital."

A Garda spokesman said: "The search is still ongoing. It seems to be a tragic situation."

Last month a fisherman drowned when he fell from a boat off the coast of West Cork.