Body find in sea after boy falls at Moher
THE search for the body of a 12-year-old tourist who fell from the Cliffs of Moher was stood down yesterday after remains were recovered from the sea.
At 10am, the occupants of a pleasure craft reported seeing something in the water off the Clare coast around 2km north of Doolin from where the Garda-led search was being co-ordinated.
The skipper of the boat immediately raised the alarm.
Watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue co-ordination centre in Kerry alerted the Doolin unit of the service as well as the RNLI and gardai.
Doolin Coast Guard launched their Delta rigid inflatable boat while the RNLI dispatched its all-weather lifeboat on Inis Mor.
On arriving at the location, Doolin Coast Guard personnel soon located a body.
RECOVERED
The remains were taken on board the Doolin Delta boat and recovered to Doolin Pier and taken to the nearby Coast Guard station.
The body was removed by hearse to University Hospital Limerick where formal identification will be made and postmortem carried out.
The multi-agency operation had been searching for the child who was reported missing after he became separated from his mum at the cliffs last Tuesday.
A land, air and sea search and rescue operation was mounted at around 2pm on Tuesday and continued until evening when sea conditions had started to deteriorate.
Clare Civil Defence also launched a drone, while divers from the Garda Water Unit and Doolin Coast Guard searched the cliff base.
A Garda spokesperson said: “Following the recovery of a body this morning by Coast Guard, Sunday, 28th July, a coastal search operation for a young boy missing from the vicinity of the Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare since Tuesday afternoon, 23rd July 2024, has been stood down.
“A file will now be prepared for the coroner.”