Search to resume for man swept out to sea while fishing

A SEARCH will resume this morning for a Polish man in his 20s who fell into the sea at a popular fishing spot in west Clare yesterday.

The man had travelled from Nenagh in Co Tipperary with friends and had been fishing from rocks at Ross Bay just north of the Bridges of Ross on the northern shore of the Loop Head Peninsula. The missing man’s friends contacted the emergency services and attempted to rescue him by throwing a lifebuoy to him. The man was however washed out in the current and out of sight of his shocked friends. The crew of the RNLI lifeboat from Kilrush was able to respond within seconds after they were alerted in the middle of a “blessing of the boats” ceremony they had been attending. Fr Michael Collins, who is also a member of the Kilrush lifeboat crew, had to abruptly abandon the annual event after crew members’ pagers rang out during the blessing.

Kilkee Marine Rescue Service and the Kilkee unit of the Irish Coast Guard (ICG) sent water and land based teams to the area. The Fenit lifeboat and the Shannon based ICG helicopter were also scrambled to assist in the search while several local boats also helped in the operation which was coordinated by the ICG Marine Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) at Valentia Island in Co Kerry.

A member of Kilkee ICG spotted the man’s body on the surface and managed to keep it in view for several minutes before it disappeared beneath the waves again. On reaching the area however rescue crews could find no trace of a body. Shortly after 6pm local rescue crews were stood down as conditions began to deteriorate.

The rescue helicopter and the Fenit lifeboat, which had to break away from the search to deal with an incident at Castlegregory in Co Kerry, returned to the scene at around 7pm to undertake a further search of the area.

Rescuers have acknowledged that the effort is now a search and recovery operation which will resume today. Divers will take part in the search which was due to get under way at 1pm. A Coast Guard spokesperson said: “Despite a possible sighting of what is believed to have been a body, the man has not been found.”

Since 2006, eight non-Irish nationals have died in tragedies at various locations along the Clare coast. The Coast Guard and water safety authorities in Co Clare have issued several warnings following the tragedies, the most recent of which occurred near Doolin last November.