Two days following the disappearance of a sailor close to Co Galway’s Carna, a man’s body was discovered in an isolated coastal part of Connemara. The sailor was identified as Conor McLoughlin, a local yachtsman who was reported missing near Cruach na Cara, more commonly known to locals as Oileán Mhic Dara (Macdara’s Island) and was last seen on Thursday evening.
The Coast Guard, RNLI lifeboats and Garda had been searching for McLoughlin tirelessly before a spokesman for the Coast Guard confirmed the recovery of a body from Maínis Island on Saturday, subsequently ending the search operation.
Despite being accessible by land, the body, found in the southwesternmost region of Maínis (also referred to as Mweenish), was transported to Rossaveal via an RNLI lifeboat. It was reported to have been recovered from the shoreline near a graveyard on the island at approximately 12.30 PM on Saturday.
The search and rescue operation began as the Emergency Services received a distress call stating that McLoughlin plunged into the water from his yacht to recover a dinghy which had detached from the boat he was sailing with his spouse.
A similar distress call was received on Thursday evening by the Coast Guard indicating that McLoughlin had encountered difficulties while swimming to fetch the dinghy.
On Friday night, McLoughlin’s wife issued a public call for volunteers to patrol the shoreline during low tide in the search for her husband, who had been sailing on his yacht, Peggy M of Foynes Yacht Club, on Shannon Estuary in Co Limerick when he vanished.
Search teams from various Coast Guard stations at Clifden, Cleggan and Costello Bay, along with RNLI Aran Island and Clifden lifeboat stations, were involved in the rescue mission. As of Friday night, this was downgraded to a recovery operation, with a shoreline search starting from 11 am on Saturday.