Update: The Killaloe unit of the Irish Coast Guard will send their unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) team to Doolin later today to join the search for the missing boy.
The search will resume for a sixth day for the 12-year-old who was reported missing on Tuesday afternoon.
Doolin Coast Guard, Inis Oírr and Civil Defence will continue their drone operations as well as shoreline and clifftop searches. Rescue 115 is also expected to join the search later.
Today, drone teams from Civil Defence units in Clare, Cork North and Cork West carried out searches along the Clare coast while the Galway unit of the volunteer service used their drones to investigate the Galway coast line.
Friday: Additional specialist Civil Defence drones teams joined the Garda-led search.
A land, air and sea search and rescue operation was mounted at around 2.00pm on Tuesday after the young boy, believed to be 12 years old, was reported missing after becoming separated from his mother. It’s believed they had been visiting Ireland from overseas.
The Irish Coast Guard confirmed yesterday that this now a recovery operation and efforts are being concentrated on the Clare coastline and sea north of from where the boy is now feared to have fallen into the sea.
The initial search on Tuesday involved the Irish Coast Guard’s Doolin unit, the Aran Islands RNLI all-weather lifeboat, Rescue 115 and Gardaí. On Wednesday morning, Clare Civil Defence dispatched members of their unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) team to launch a drone.
Divers from the Garda Water Unit and Doolin Coast Guard carried out further searches of the shoreline at the base of the cliffs however low cloud and mist hampered that operation.
The search resumed at low tide yesterday with a drone team from Cleggan Coast Guard in Galway travelling to Clare to assist their Doolin colleagues.
Clare Civil Defence also deployed their drones for a second day and were joined by drone teams from Cork North and Cork West Civil Defence and another team from Kerry. They were briefed in Ennis by Civil Defence Officer for Clare Mr Steven Hayes before travelling to the search area.
All teams deployed their drones at various locations along the Cliffs of Moher north to Doolin. Conditions at times however were blustery with heavy showers at times.
Meanwhile, members of Galway and Mayo Civil Defence carried out searches of the Galway Bay coastline as part of the operation.
The Costello Bay unit of the Irish Coast Guard also searched areas along the Galway coastline while members of the Inis Oírr (Aran Islands) unit also carried out shore searches in their area. That unit is land based and is managed by the Doolin unit.
Watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre in Kerry, who have been coordinating the air and sea searches, used drift modelling software in an effort to establish what direction a body might be carried.
The Shannon based Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 undertook a detailed grid search in the Galway Bay area as part of the extensive operation.
The search will continue today with Doolin Coast Guard being joined again by drone teams from the Clare, Cork North and Cork West Civil Defence while volunteers from Laois and Wicklow units of the Civil Defence also joining the operation.
