The search for a woman reported missing from Co Cork last weekend has been stood down following the discovery of a body on the Aran Islands this morning.
The 45-year-old had been missing from Mallow, County Cork since Friday, 8th November. Gardaí issued an appeal seeking the public’s tracing the whereabouts of the missing woman.
On Tuesday, the woman’s car was located near Liscannor village in North Clare and the search was promptly moved to that area with Gardaí requesting assistance from the Irish Coast Guard.
Watch officers at the Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre on Valentia Island in Kerry mounted a multi-agency search operation.
Volunteers from the Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard were initially mobilised to conduct a search of the local area around where the missing woman’s car was found.
Team members made their way to the Liscannor area by road while other volunteers launched their rigid inflatable boat (rib) and carried a search of the coastline south of Doolin to Liscannor.
Clare Civil Defence was also requested to assist and a drone team was dispatched from their Ennis base. Another unit of the Civil Defence from North Cork joined their colleagues in Clare today.
The search was hampered for most of the week by a thick fog and heavy mist which prevented the Coast Guard helicopter taking part in the search.
The Killaloe and Kilkee units of the Irish Coast Guard joined the search on Thursday and continued their efforts from early this morning while another team of volunteers travelled from Ballybunion, Co Kerry to assist in the search.
It has now been confirmed that a body was recovered on the shoreline on the western side of Inis Oírr, the smallest of the Aran Islands, this morning.
The body was later by recovered by members of the Inis Oírr unit of the Irish Coast Guard. The island-based team falls under the direct management of the Doolin unit.
The body was taken on board the Aran Islands RNLI lifeboat and taken to Rossaveal in Galway. From there the remains were transported to University Hospital Galway where a postmortem examination is expected to be carried out.
While formal identification of the body has yet to take place, it’s believed it is that of the missing Mallow woman.
The search of the Clare coastline has since been stood down.
Meanwhile, the search is continuing in Galway Bay for woman reported missing after she failed to return a swim at Silver Strand on Tuesday last. Over 500 people in all are involved in the search. Earlier in the week, Clare Civil Defence drone search teams assisted in the multi-agency operation.
