Eight swimmers feared dead

By Staff Reporters

Eight young people were believed drowned off the Clare coast in the Rcpublic of Ireland last night when they were swept out to sea while swimmimg. One body was recovered and a helicopter and boatmen joined in the search for the others.

. Several young people attending -a pop festival near by at Lisdoonvarna went swimming in the Atlantic from a beach known locally as dangerous and marked by red warning signs. The sea was choppy at the tinie.

Mr Kevin O'Brien, a local man said: "It is a highly dangerous place known for its treacherous currents and any-

one who went in is out of their mind."

Three brothers and a German girl are among those missing. An English tourist who went swimming earlier this week is still missing from the same area.

On the English South Coast a freak squall capsized ovcr 100 small boats in the Newhaven and Shorehiam area yesterday afternoon.

During the line squall - socalled because it appears as a black line at sea - winds rose instantly from force 2 to 3 to force 9 for 10 minutes before failing back. A Royal Navy helicopter, lifeboats from Newhaven, Shortham and Lit-

tliehampton, and local fishing boats joined in what was described by the Shoreham Coast Guard station as "the mopping up operat06".

No one was hurt in the squall which happened at 4pm.

The London Weather Centre said that the squall started in the Channel Islands, where there were gusts of up to 62 knots. They were acccompanied by "a very remarkable temperature rise" from 17C to 30C (63F to 86F) in half an hour.

In Guernsey a ketch, Ella Trout V, capsized outside St Peter Port throwing three people into the sea, who were rescued by small boats.