The body of a male, believed to be the 19-year-old Dublin man missing since early yesterday morning at Lahinch, was recovered last night.
Shortly after 7pm, during the course of an extensive shoreline search, local volunteers discovered the body in a rocky area at the southern end of the Co Clare beach in close proximity to where the man is believed to have entered the water yesterday. Gardaí were awaiting last night to formally identify the man.
According to a Garda spokesman, the 19-year-old from Clontarf went for a swim at low-tide at about 4.10am yesterday after a night out.
The spokesman said the youth entered the water with two friends, but he failed to come out of the water. Sea conditions at the time were calm. The youth was staying with friends over the weekend and the alarm was raised when he did not return, sparking the rescue effort involving the Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter and the Doolin and Kilkee Coast Guard units.
Early yesterday morning, the youth's friends watched from the promenade in Lahinch as two boats were launched to comb Lahinch bay for the youth's body, while members of the Doolin Coast Guard and local lifeguards conducted a shoreline search.
Yesterday's drowning is the third to occur on the Clare coastline this summer. An east Clare man drowned at Spanish Point in June, while a Moldovan man drowned at the notorious Blue Pool between Kilkee and Doonbeg on July 1st.
