Monday, February 20, 2012
The body of a man was found hanging from a gate at the Cliffs of Moher less than an hour before the Chinese vice-president was due to arrive there.
The man, believed to be a Polish national in his ’30s, was found dead at O’Brien’s Tower on a headland at the cliffs.
It understood he entered the site during the night.
The alarm was raised at around 9.30am by rangers at the cliffs after they discovered the man’s body hanging from the iron security gate during a routine patrol.
Gardaí and a local doctor were called but the man was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was removed to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick where a postmortem examination was due to be carried out.
Xi Jinping and his party arrived at the cliffs for a private visit soon after 10am, when the body had already been removed from the scene, and were unaware of the earlier incident.
It is also understood that while Mr Xi and his party were at the cliffs for almost an hour, O’Brien’s Tower was not on his agenda.
The tower, which was built as a viewing point in 1835 and recently restored, stands about 250 metres from the main viewing balcony at the cliffs where the Chinese vice-president posed for photographs.
One of those in attendance said: "Some of us heard about the tragedy afterwards but the vice-president and most of the people there wouldn’t have known about it at all. They didn’t need to know.
"It is an awful tragedy for that man and his family but it wasn’t in any way connected with the visit."
Gardaí confirmed: "A man’s body was found at the Cliffs of Moher.
"The body was removed to Limerick for a postmortem and the county coroner was notified."
A spokesman also confirmed that they are treating the death as a personal tragedy and while they believe they know the man’s identity, they were continuing efforts to confirm this and to inform the man’s family.
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