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Body of missing Irish tourist found

Police in Stockholm have recovered the body of Irish tourist John Aherne.

Body of missing Irish tourist found

His body was found shortly before midday on Wednesday in the water close to the quayside at Norra Hammarbyhamnen on Stockholm’s south island. Aherne’s family has been notified.

Police spokesman Lars Bröns said the body was found “in a straight line down to the water from the restaurant where he was last seen, two to three metres from the quayside, at a depth of six metres.”

Bröns paid tribute to members of the Swedish Coast Guard, who he said had worked long hours in the search for the missing person.

Aherne’s body was discovered with the aid of the Coast Guard’s remotely operated underwater vehicle.

Bröns said there had never been any suspicion of foul play. Police believed that Aherne made his way to the quayside and accidentally fell into the water.

Aherne, 32, an accountant from Wicklow Town in Ireland, had been missing since leaving a Stockholm restaurant for a cigarette on the evening of March 15th.

He had come to Sweden to celebrate the St. Patrick’s weekend with his close friend Karl Lambert.

The two men went out with friends on Saturday night and had a few drinks together at a city centre pub.

When Aherne decided he was ready to go home, Lambert stayed behind and gave his friend a set of spare keys.

Aherne stopped off at the Orion restaurant on the ground floor of Lambert’s apartment building on Katarina Bangata in south-central Stockholm.

Aherne had a drink at the restaurant. Leaving his coat on a chair and his phone on the bar, he went outside.

When he failed to return to the apartment to collect his passport and travel home to Ireland he was reported missing to the police.