Bad weather halts search for missing Japanese tourists off Co Clare coast

Deteriorating weather conditions forced the Irish Coast Guard to withdraw its boats from the search for a Japanese couple feared missing in Co Clare yesterday.

Eiji Takagi, a 63-year-old man with joint American and Japanese nationality, and Japanese national Ms Ushio Azaki, 61, were last seen when they checked out of a hotel in Spanish Point on Saturday morning.

A massive search was mounted on Tuesday evening after it was confirmed that a car, found parked at Byrnes Cove, near Georges Head in Kilkee, had been rented by the couple.

While the red Hyundai was first spotted on Monday and reported to gardaí on Tuesday, investigating officers believe the car was parked there shortly after 9pm on Saturday.

A retired Irish army colonel, who had been swimming in the cove on Monday, raised the alarm after he spotted the car in the same location the following day. The swimmer, Billy Lott, contacted Manuel DiLucia a founder member of the Kilkee Marine Rescue Service, now amalgamated with the Irish Coast Guard.

“Billy, who’s a friend of mine, rang me after he saw the car parked in the same place at around 10am on Tuesday,” Mr DiLucia said.

Garda inquiries established the identity of the couple who had rented the car. It’s now known that the pair checked out of their hotel in Spanish Point, about 34km further north along the Clare coast, on Saturday.

Gardaí at Kilrush have issued a public appeal for assistance and Irish Coast Guard officer in charge, Martony Vaughan, said further assets will be mobilised if required.

“Conditions deteriorated badly around lunchtime so we called the boats in,” he said, adding the search would continue once conditions improved.