A British rescue team has finally recovered the body of the Polish man who died while cave diving in Co Galway, some six days after he was first reported missing.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, 34-year-old expert cave diver Artur Kozlowski failed to re-emerge from a dive near Gort on 5 September.

His body was located last Tuesday evening in the deepest section of the cave, some 52m below the surface.

But it took till Saturday for a team of cave rescue experts to safety recover the body from the narrow passage nearly 1km into the cavern.

Three British caving experts worked with the Irish Cave Rescue Organisation and gardaí on the dangerous operation.

The Speleological Union of Ireland offered its condolences to Kozlowski and his family, who have travelled to Ireland.

In a statement, it said: “This is an unforgiving sport requiring extreme mental and physical fitness, but it was Artur’s passion.”

The Irish Times has more on the story HERE.

This month ASN are due delivery of the 4,700 gross tonnes Arklow Bridge, the second 'B' class newbuild was also built by the Dutch company of Bodewes Shipyards B.V. She is the fifth vessel to carry this name since Arklow Shipping was founded in 1966.

The Arklow Bridge is registered in St. John's the capital of the Caribbean island of Antigua where she will be flagged. Antigua became an associated state of the Commonwealth until it was disassociated from Britain 30 years ago.

Her sister Arklow Brook entered service this year and is designed with two holds with a total (grain and bale) capacity of 9473.1m3 or an equivalent of 33,4524 ft3.

For cargo-separation the holds can be sub-divided by a portable bulkhead in up to 8 positions. In addition to carrying agricultural-based cargoes, the 116m (OA) overall long vessel can handle 177 (TEU) containers in the hold and another 88 can be stowed on top of the hold's hatch covers. Both the holds are fitted with dehumidifier's.

The power-plant is derived from a MaK 6M32C 2999kW main engine with a Renk gearbox and Berg controllable pitch propeller that provides around 12 knots.

With the entry of Arklow Bridge, the combined fleet is over 40 ships that trade in the north-west of Europe and the Mediterranean. For further vessel statistics of the sisters click here and for a photo of the new vessel click this link.

Asides the Rotterdam based operation of ASN, the Irish side of the company is the largest indigenous owned shipping company in terms of Irish-flagged and registered tonnage. Arklow is not only the headquarter's of ASL but the homeport is also where the vessels are registered.

With boat sales falling by as much as 80%, marina business down 20%, retail sales in chandlery down up to 38%, insurance down 12.5% the marine industry in Ireland and Wales had to take some action to ensure the marine trade and leisure industry survives.

An unusual industry conference took place in Dun Laoghaire today and yesterday with the objective of understanding where the industry is right now and how it needs to act to ensure that it survives the downturn in our economies.

Over 125 marine businesses from both sides of the Irish Sea will be attending in what will be the largest marine leisure Industry gathering ever brought together.

A joint address was given by the Executive Director of the British Marine Federation, Howard Pridding and David O'Brien the Chairman of the Irish Marine Federation set the scene as to where the industry is on both sides of the Irish Sea.

The conference heard from 3 companies who operate in the sector. One from each region, North Wales, South Wales and Ireland who will share with the conference their experiences in the current economic climate on how they are surviving and thriving in the downturn. Business tactics that need to be deployed were explored with a leading business and innovation specialist from Wales together with joint talks by Visit Wales and Failte Ireland on the development of marine leisure tourism.

Leading economist Jim Power delivered a talk on the economic situation and when we might begin to see some consumer confidence return to our markets.

The Pembroke Coastal Forum told how they have managed their coastline and environment and how they have facilitated marine leisure tourism through proper marine spatial planning.

The conference is being organised by irish-sea.org and Ireland/Wales Interreg IV A Programme funded by the European Region Development Fund.

Irish-sea.org has three partners, North Wales Watersports, South West Wales Marine Federation and the Irish Marine Federation.