The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
Harrowing evidence of the final moments of North Clare woman and Irish Coast Guard volunteer, Caitríona Lucas, who died while assisting in a search and rescue operation off the west coast, seven years ago, was given by her crew mates at the start of her inquest today. It was accepted that Ms Lucas, of the Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard, was assisting members of Kilkee Coast Guard unit because they were short of volunteers. She was the first Coast Guard member to die on active duty. The 41-year old librarian and mother-of-two might have had survived had she still been wearing her safety helmet that had earlier been ripped off her by a wave, when she was struck by the Kilkee RIB and smashed against rocks off Kilkee Bay, it was heard. Ms Lucas, along with Kilkee coast guard volunteers Jenny Carway and James Lucey were searching the sea beneath the cliffs at an area near the “pollock …
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