Members of Kilkee Coastguard Unit are on standby to resume a search for a young Polish national feared drowned off the West Clare coast.
Efforts to locate the 34 year-old, who was living in the Killaloe area, have proven unsuccessful, despite the best efforts of Kilkee Coastguard and the Shannon-based rescue helicopter.
Adverse weather conditions prevented the resumption the search on Monday morning and local marine volunteers need an improvement before they can return to their difficult task.
People are advised to stay away from any exposed area along the West Clare coastline, particularly during periods of strong gales, which are forecast this week.
The alarm was raised in the early hours of Saturday morning when the man’s car was located in the car park at the Loop Head lighthouse.
The Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre at Valentia in Co Kerry was alerted amid fears for the man’s safety.
At around 4.30am, the Kilkee unit of the Coast Guard was contacted and requested to proceed to the area to assist gardaí in the search.
Volunteers continued searching until 10 am on Saturday morning when it was decided to abandon the search due to worsening weather conditions.
Search teams were ready to return to the area in the afternoon at “low water” however, conditions failed to improve and the search effort was abandoned for the day.
The rescue helicopter returned on Sunday morning and members of Killaloe Coastguard continued searching from 2 pm until dark without any success.
Irish Coast Guard volunteers remained on standby to resume the search on Monday when it is safe to do so.
Dan Danaher
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.