The Galway public has been asked to assist in a coastal search operation set to commence in Carna on Saturday morning for a man, named locally as Conor McLoughlin, who was reported missing near Cruach na Cara in Connemara two days ago. A multi-agency search started on Friday. Mr McLoughlin was last seen wearing a navy hat with a red trim, a green sweater beneath black bib pants, and tan Dubarry sailing boots.
The shore search, scheduled at low tide, will start at 11am on Saturday. Mr McLoughlin and his wife Bernadette belong to Foynes Yacht Club on the Shannon Estuary in Co Limerick.
Authorities were alerted shortly after 6:15pm on Thursday, with police and the Irish Coast Guard reported that a man had plunged into the sea from a boat off the Carna coast. It is believed that Mr McLoughlin fell into trouble in the water while trying to retrieve a dinghy that had separated from the yacht he was sailing with his wife.
Units from the Coastguard and the RNLI, the Clifden and Aran Island lifeboat stations, and the Cleggan and Costello Bay Coast Guard joined in the search. The Irish Coast Guard helicopters from Shannon and Sligo and the police also participated, as did various local vessels on a voluntary basis.
Searches resumed at dawn on Friday and will persist on Saturday morning. John Draper, Divisional Controller for the Valentia Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre, stated that the distress call they received was from the missing man’s wife. She reported that her husband had swam after the drifting dinghy and had fallen into trouble, prompting her to call the Valentia Coast Guard to begin the search.