Search for missing young boy near Cliffs of Moher resumes

Rescue 115 hovers over the Cliffs of Moher in the search for a young boy. Picture: Press 22

The search for a young boy reported missing in the vicinity of the Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare resumed on Thursday afternoon. 

The land, air and sea search was suspended due to weather conditions on Wednesday. The search was initially mounted after the alarm was raised at around 2pm on Tuesday. 

It is believed that the boy became separated from his family, who are understood to be visiting Ireland from abroad.

Gardaí, the RNLI, members of the Irish Coast Guard and local search and rescue services are involved in searches for the boy, which resumed at 1pm this afternoon. 

Gardaí confirmed on Thursday morning that "due to adverse weather conditions locally the search operation for a young boy missing from the vicinity of the Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare will resume this afternoon". 

A drone team from Cleggan Coast Guard in Galway is travelling to Clare to assist their Doolin colleagues. Clare Civil Defence will also deploy their drones and will be joined by volunteers from two Cork units of the service and another from Kerry. Members of Galway and Mayo Civil Defence will carry out searches of the Galway Bay coastline as part of the operation.

The drone teams will search the coastline as the tide recedes. Low-tide is expected at around 2.30pm. As winds yesterday were southerly in direction, the shoreline search will be extended northwards further along the Cliffs of Moher and up the coast from Doolin.

Family raised the alarm 

It is understood that when the boy went missing, his family began searching for him. When there was no sign of the child, they returned to the visitor centre and raised the alarm. The search operation was then promptly mounted. 

On Tuesday, the Doolin unit of the Coast Guard launched their Delta rigid inflatable boat while gardaí responded to the area. Other members of the Doolin team also made their way by road to the cliff top where the boy was last seen.

The Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter, Rescue 115, was also tasked to the incident while the Aran Islands RNLI all-weather lifeboat was also requested to assist. At the time, the lifeboat had been on another callout and responded directly to the Clare incident after that had been completed.

It is understood that the helicopter crew spotted what is believed to be a body in the water at the base of the cliff and directed the Coast Guard boat to the area. The area was however inaccessible at the time with large waves breaking on the shoreline.

After the Aran Islands RNLI lifeboat arrived at the location they launched their Y-class inflatable boat and along with the Coast Guard boat crew carried out a risk assessment but determined it was still too dangerous to attempt a recovery operation. The search was called off for the evening.

On Wednesday, members of Clare Civil Defence arrived at the scene and launched a drone in an effort to establish a location for the body. Divers from the Garda Water Unit also arrived in Doolin this morning.

Doolin Coast Guard volunteers carried out a further assessment at the scene around lunchtime and determined that conditions were good enough to attempt a search.

Garda divers then made their way to the location with several members swimming ashore to search the area and were directed to the area last identified as a possible location for the body. 

Despite Garda Water Unit members carrying out a comprehensive search of the shoreline with help from Coast Guard volunteers on the cliff top and Rescue 115 searching from above, no sign of a body was found.