Holidaymaker dies after collapsing at water’s edge on beach

A man has died after being found collapsed on a beach yesterday.

The man, believed to be in his late 50s, had been swimming in Kilkee, Co Clare, when he was found collapsed at the water’s edge at around 4.55pm.

It is understood that the man is from Shannon and had been holidaying in Kilkee.

He had been swimming earlier in the day. However, the circumstances of his death were not immediately known.

Two lifeguards ran to the man’s assistance and quickly dragged him up the beach, away from the water, and commenced efforts to resuscitate him.

The alarm was quickly raised and co-ordination of the incident was carried out the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue co-ordination centre on Valentia Island, Co Kerry.

Staff requested the Shannon-based search and rescue helicopter to respond to the incident.

The helicopter reached the scene in a matter of minutes, as it was already in the air and engaged in a training exercise off Ballybunnion 25km from Kilkee.

The Kilkee unit of the Coast Guard, recently merged with Kilkee Marine Rescue Service, was also requested to assisted and cleared and area of the beach so the helicopter could land safely.

The man was airlifted to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick in a critical condition and was pronounced dead a short time later.

It had been reported that the man got into difficulty while swimming but it was not known last night whether he died as a result of drowning. It had also been reported locally that he hay have suffered a heart attack.

A postmortem examination is set to be carried out later today.

One beach-goer said: “There were loads of children around and they went down for a look. Then the helicopter landed and it was gone again in a few minutes. That’s the second time in a week someone has been airlifted from here.”

On Jul 7, the body of an elderly man washed up on the beach at Kilkee as dozens of swimmers looked on in disbelief.

Efforts by two lifeguards and paramedics to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and the man was pronounced dead shortly after being airlifted to hospital.