Father of three dies in tragic accident on Cape Clear

It is understood the man was playing football with members of his family on Saturday when their ball went over the cliff at Cape Clear Island. The man set off on a route to the foot of the cliffs to get the ball back. However, he failed to return.

A man in his forties has died following an accident on Cape Clear island in West Cork.

It is understood the father of three young children from Clonakilty was playing football with members of his family on Saturday afternoon when their ball went over the cliff. The man set off on a route to the foot of the cliffs to get the ball back. However, he failed to return. A family member raised the alarm.

A search and rescue operation was carried out involving the Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 and Baltimore's RNLI lifeboat.

In a statement, Baltimore RNLI said it was requested to launch on Saturday night at 8.10pm by Valentia Coast Guard, to reports of a person in the water off Cape Clear. 

"Both the all-weather and inshore lifeboats were launched, and a person was taken from the water and brought onboard the inshore lifeboat, by lifeboat crew. They returned to the Baltimore lifeboat station, before transferring the person into the care of emergency services."

The man was pronounced dead by an area GP.

A postmortem will be carried out at Cork University Hospital to determine the exact cause of death. It is not known if he died of a head injury or drowning.

The coroner has been informed and a file will be prepared for the Coroner's Court. The death is being treated as a tragic accident.

Second tragedy

This is the second tragedy to hit Co Cork this week. Last Sunday Polish mother of two Joanna Wisniowśka died after she went into the sea in East Cork in a bid to save her son who was experiencing difficulties. A funeral service for Joanna Wisniowśka took place at St Colman’s Church in Cloyne, Co Cork on Friday night.

Mother of two Joanna Wisniowśka died last Sunday after attempting to rescue her young son after he got into difficulty swimming off Ballycroneen beach in East Cork.

Joanna passed away at CUH last Sunday afternoon. She had gone into the water at Ballycroneen Beach earlier that day as her 10 year-old son was in trouble in the water. Fortunately, the youngster avoided serious injury as he managed to may his way on to the rocks on the shore.

Joanna is survived by her husband Maciek, her children Stanley and Zosia, her parents Alicia and Tadeus, her sister Magdalenia and brother in law Piotor.

She is also deeply mourned by her in-laws, nieces, nephews and family.

She will be laid to rest in her home town of Strzyzow in the coming days. A Go Fund me page set up to assist her family has raised in excess of €33,000.