Gardaí attempt to identity body recovered from sea

GARDAÍ in Co Clare are trying to establish the identity of a body recovered from the sea near the Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare yesterday.

While gardaí have yet to identify the remains, they say they do not suspect foul play and believe that the death to be a “personal tragedy”.

The alarm was raised at around 2.15pm when a member of the public reported seeing a body in the sea below. It is understood that the body was clothed and had been in the water for several days.

The Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard was alerted and teams were sent to the scene by water and by road. The crew of the Doolin rescue boat quickly located the body just north of O’Brien’s Tower.

The body was taken on board the boat and removed to Doolin pier.

The body was later removed by hearse to the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick where a postmortem examination is expected to be carried out today.

Gardaí at Ennistymon are investigating the discovery and have confirmed that at this point, they don’t have an identity for the man.

“We will wait until the pathologist has examined the body and confirmed the length it was in the water. We can then look at possible missing persons and see if we can establish an identity that way,” a garda spokesman said.

One person remains missing after he fell to his death from the cliffs on April 3 last. There has been no sign of the man, who is understood to have travelled to Ireland from Spain.

Gardaí have confirmed however they do not believe the body discovered yesterday is that of the missing man.