The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
A body has been recovered from the sea off County Clare on Thursday afternoon.
An initial search was conducted in the north Clare area on Friday night last (April 1) amid fears that a person may have entered the sea.
The Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard was tasked to undertake an initial search of the area.
The Shannon-based search and rescue helicopter was also requested to assist in the search. Rescue 115 conducted a detailed search of the area but the search was stood down for the night when there was nothing found.
Doolin Coast Guard volunteers returned to the scene again on Saturday morning in search of any sign of the missing man. The team also launched a drone as part of the operation and searched the coastline and cliff top areas. Rescue 115 also returned to the scene to carry out further searches on Saturday afternoon.
The search had been hampered by poor weather earlier this week however a body was spotted in the water yesterday afternoon.
Rescue 115 had returned to the area along with Doolin Coast Guard volunteers to continue their search.
After the crew of Rescue 115 spotted a body in the water, the Aran Islands RNLI lifeboat was requested to assist with the recovery operation and the volunteer lifeboat crew subsequently recovered the body from the sea.
The remains transported by the lifeboat crew to the pier at Doolin where local Coast Guard volunteers were on standby to recover the remains to their nearby base where a doctor and Gardaí were waiting. The man was formally pronounced dead and his body removed to University Hospital Limerick were a post-mortem examination will be carried out.
The county coroner has also been notified.
Gardaí are treating the death as a ‘personal tragedy’ and will prepare a file for the coroner who will hold and inquest at a later date.
Meanwhile, the search continues for another man reported missing in the area yesterday.
