The body of a man has been recovered from the water in Co Clare at the same location where another man was rescued early on Thursday.
A search was mounted last night after Gardaí received a report of a man missing in the Killaloe area. The Killaloe unit of the Irish Coast Guard was alerted at around 10.55pm and requested to assist.
Coast Guard volunteers launched a rescue boat while others travelled to the search area by road. After an extensive search, carried out in difficult weather conditions, a body was located beneath a jetty.
Volunteer divers from Killaloe/Ballina Search and Recovery Unit were requested to attend and recover the body. The man’s remains were then removed to the Coast Guard station at Pier Head, Killaloe.
At around 2.00am, the body was transported to the mortuary at University Hospital Limerick where a post-mortem will take place later.
Gardaí are investigating the circumstances of the tragedy and whether there’s a connection between last night’s discovery and the rescue of a man from the water in the same area on Thursday morning.
The alarm was raised at around 8.55am yesterday when a person was reported to be in the water at the marina in the Harbour Village in Killaloe. A person living in a nearby apartment saw the man and raised the alarm before running to the casualty’s aid. The quick-thinking resident jumped into the water and managed to grab the casualty and hold onto him until Killaloe Coast Guard volunteers arrived.
Both men were then assisted from the water onto the jetty.
The casualty was later handed into the care of National Ambulance Service paramedics who assessed and treated him for severe hypothermia before he was transferred to University Hospital Limerick for treatment.
It wasn’t known at the time that there was a second man in the water however, it’s believed the men were known to each other and staying on a nearby boat. It’s also believed that one man had fallen into the water and the other had jumped in to rescue him or that both men had fallen off the jetty accidentally.
A Garda spokesperson confirmed: “Gardaí and Emergency Services attended the scene of an incident where a man in his 20s entered the water in Harbour Village, Killaloe, Co. Clare on the 21st December 2023 at approximately 9am. He was taken to University Hospital Limerick for treatment of injuries.
Gardaí and Emergency Services attended an incident on the 21st September 2023 where the remains of a man were recovered in Harbour Village, Killaloe on the 21st December 2023 at approximately 11pm.
The remains were taken to University Hospital Limerick where post-mortem will take place. Investigations are ongoing.”
