Divers from the Irish Naval Service have recovered a body from the base of a cliff in North Clare this afternoon.
The alarm was raised at around 4.00pm yesterday when emergency services were requested to respond to an incident where a person had fallen at the Cliffs of Moher.
National Ambulance Service paramedics; the Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard and Clare County Fire and Rescue Service crews from Ennistymon and Kilrush stations responded to the incident along with Gardaí. The Shannon-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter, Rescue 115, was also tasked to the incident.
On arrival at the scene it was established that a person, understood to be a young man, was seen falling from the cliff at Aill Na Searrach close to O’Brien’s Tower.
Doolin Coast Guard launched a rescue boat while Rescue 115 arrived at the scene at around the same time. A risk assessment was undertaken at the scene however, while the body was located, it was deemed too dangerous to attempt a recovery at the time.
The Irish Naval Service was requested to assist and dispatched a team of divers to Doolin this afternoon. Members of the Naval Service Diving Section launched from the pier at Doolin shortly before 3.00pm, during low tide, and made their way to the scene followed soon afterwards by one of Doolin Coast Guard’s rescue boats.
With the assistance from Doolin Coast Guard personnel on the cliff top, naval divers made their way ashore to the base of the cliff where they located the casualty. The body was recovered to Doolin Coast Guard station at around 3.30pm where Gardaí and a local doctor were waiting.
The body is expected to be taken by hearse to University Hospital Limerick where a post mortem examination will be carried out.
It’s understood that the incident is being treated as a personal tragedy and that the man had been missing from Co Mayo.
