A THREE-day search for missing 19-year-old Quilty man, Stephen Mungovan, concluded on Wednesday, when his body was located by Irish Navy divers in the waters off Spanish Point. He was last seen early on Monday morning and gardaí were contacted at around 11am that day.
“The body was located, on the Caherrush side of Spanish Point, by naval divers just before 4pm on Wednesday. He was returned to the slipway in Seafield and was transferred to Limerick,” Martony Vaughan, officer in charge of the Irish Coastguard Unit in Kilkee, told The Clare Champion.
“There was a major push for the last three days by Kilkee and Doolin Coast Guard Units, the gardaí, Rescue 115 from Shannon, while naval divers arrived on scene on Tuesday. There was also a major effort from Kilkee and Burren Sub Aqua Clubs, Clare Civil Defence and several hundred members of the local community also took part in searches over the last few days,” Mr Vaughan added.
He lauded everybody in the community who gave every possible assistance to the search. He said the recovery was timely, as the weather was about to take a turn for the worse.
“The weather was due to deteriorate on Wednesday evening and we would probably have had to scale back for a few days before we went at it fully again. It was good that we found the poor man today. It’s a devastating tragedy for the family and the local community,” Mr Vaughan reflected.
The search headquarters was located at the Armada Hotel, Spanish Point. “They didn’t charge us for food or anything since we started there. Our staging area was the Armada Hotel car park,” he concluded.
The search and recovery in West Clare followed three tragic deaths in the county in recent days. Colm Devitt from Dromadrehid died while walking his dogs at Lough Burke in Kilmaley on Saturday. He was attended by emergency services but was pronounced dead. Mr Devitt was laid to rest on Tuesday.
On Friday, an accident involving a dumper truck in Fanore claimed the life of Kieran O’Driscoll, who had been working, while there was another tragedy in Shragh, Doonbeg last Thursday, when Tomas Bernard Walsh died while working on land near his home.
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.