BY RONAN MCSHERRY

UH columnist Paul Moore has spoken of his shock following the death of a diver he had been interviewing shortly before he took to the water.

Michael Hanrahan (45), a father of four from Dublin, died on Tuesday during a dive at the sunken German U-boat submarine, 16 miles off Malin Head on the Donegal coast. The dive team was filming the submarine when the diver got into difficulties.

Paul Moore from Castlederg spent Tuesday with the divers at Malin Head, for a feature he was doing for BBC Radio Ulster's 'Your Place and Mine' programme.

"I had interviewed them before they set out," he said. "What was striking was how careful they were being with safety and making sure the equipment and everything else was right. It was a huge shock to hear something had gone wrong.

"They were just so excited about it and they seemed to know just what they were doing. It is just such a tragedy for his family."

Mr Moore waited to meet the men returning from their dive. He spoke of his shock on learning of the tragedy.

"They were due back at 5.30pm and I thought it was strange there were not back by then. Then it stretched to 6pm and I knew there something wrong. I didn't know what but by 6.30pm I knew there was real problem. Then the coastguards came and told me they had lost a man."

The news of Mr Hanrahan's death was in stark contrast to the atmosphere among the divers and radio crew before they took to the water.

The Herald columnist and BBC reporter recalled, "We had actually been together for 90 minutes while they were getting ready to go. There was great excitement about the project and a camaraderie had built up. When they were going off we were joking and waving white hankies and waving 'bye-bye.'

"Later that night, I was looking at photographs of these four typical guys just loving what they were doing and it was quite harrowing to think this man was a still alive hours earlier and now he is gone. He seemed like the others in the team, passionate about diving and really looking forward to the dive. There was a great rapport between the guys on the diving team and they were so competent. Everything just seemed right."

For the other members of the diving team, the loss of their comrade has been a terrible blow.

Offering his sympathies to the men, Mr Moore said, "I know from other reporters who spoke to their leader Geoff Millar he is devastated by this. They are all from a team and do this regularly. They knew each other really well and like any other activity or sport there have a special bond. I am sure they are all devastated."

Derry City Council plans to raise the U-boat and house it in a museum. The boat is lying in about 70 metres of water. It is estimated there are about 150 such boats lying off Malin Head, all vivid reminders of the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II.

The council said that "because of the depth of the waters involved, the procedure was expected to be highly technical".