Man's body recovered from River Shannon

The body of a man was today recovered from the River Shannon close to where a young man went missing just weeks before Christmas.

The remains were taken from the water just north of the bridge in Killaloe, Co Clare, at around 10.30am after they were spotted by a nearby resident.

The discovery follows the scaling down of a massive 33-day search over Christmas and the New Year for James Burke, from Ballinruane near Whitegate, east Clare.

The 24-year-old went missing on December 9 having been last seen near the bridge after a night out with friends in the town.

It was feared he may have slipped or fallen into the water.

Killaloe Coast Guard unit co-ordinated a huge search, involving the Shannon-based air rescue helicopter, other Coast Guard units in Doolan and Westport as well as local fishermen.

Up to 100 people from Mr Burke’s home village also turned out to help in the operation but the Coast Guard had to scale the number down to 30 to make it more manageable.

Local gardaí and the force’s dog unit were also involved in the search before it was scaled down without any success on Christmas Eve.

Further searches from January 5 also failed to find Mr Burke’s body.

Gardaí called in Killaloe Ballina Search and Rescue Unit today to help recover the unidentified body from the River Shannon.

The remains were taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick for a post mortem examination.

Michael Quigley, secretary of Killaloe Ballina Search and Rescue Unit, said there were another two people missing from Limerick who were last seen in Killaloe.