ONE Irishman is feared dead and another 10 Irish people are unaccounted for in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The man, in his twenties, was travelling in Biloxi, one of the areas worst affected by the disaster. Officials at the Department of Foreign Affairs, who are trying to locate him, say severe communication problems are hampering their efforts.

“It is not a stable situation. The numbers of missing people are fluctuating and we have been inundated with calls,” a department official said.

Forty-five families contacted the department following the hurricane, but most Irish nationals now have been located and tourists trapped in the region will be flown home within days.

Una Ni Dhubhghaill, the Irish vice-consul general in Chicago, has travelled to Dallas to assist Irish citizens caught up in the disaster. In Houston, Texas, the Irish Society is asking volunteers to walk the streets with Irish tricolours in order to attract evacuees from the republic who may be stranded in “the mass of humanity” of refugees filing into the city.

Last night Dermot Ahern, the minister for foreign affairs, contacted the parents of three Irish students and told them their sons — the first of the Irish survivors to be rescued — would arrive back in Dublin today.

Conor Lally, 20, Patrick Clarke, 21, and Tomas McLoughlin, all from Blackrock, Co Louth, had gone to Myrtle Beach on J1 visas for the summer. When Katrina swept into New Orleans they sought refuge in the Superdome stadium, but later sent texts home to say they had witnessed rapes, gang warfare and fighting among looters.

“It is every parent’s worst nightmare,”said Jim Lally, Conor’s father. “My son went away as a 20-year-old boy and will probably return with the life experience of a 50-year-old man. This has been the worst week of our life, it was horrendous, but I just got a text from Dermot Ahern to say that the boys will be in Dublin at 8.30 in the morning.

“The boys are in great form, they laughed when they heard they were all over the headlines and their friends are calling them the Blackrock Three. But it has been a harrowing experience and they may need counselling when they got home.”

Newlyweds Jean Wheatfield and Michael Leyden from Dromahair, Leitrim, who went to New Orleans for their honeymoon, were missing for five days before being airlifted to safety by the American military.

Married three weeks ago, their honeymoon was cut short when their hotel in the Latin Quarter was flooded. The couple say they were caught up in gun battles, threatened by gangs, witnessed a massive explosion and tried unsuccessfully to flee on foot.

“I honestly thought we were going to die, it was terrifying,” said Wheatfield, who is from Dublin. “We became prisoners in our hotel as the waters rose. Outside we could hear gunfire and explosions but we knew we had to try to escape because the situation was getting more and more dangerous.”

The couple, who were stranded at Baton Rouge airport with more than 5,000 tourists, flew last night to Newark, New Jersey, and will return to Ireland later this week.

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