Coast Guard confident of finding third body

A spokesman for the Doolin Coast Guard rescue unit was confident last night that the body of the third man missing off the Co Clare coast would be recovered over the next 24 hours.

Yesterday morning members of the Doolin Coast Guard rescue unit recovered the body of the second man missing at Trá Lathan - 150 metres north of where the Suzuki Vitara 4x4 with the three men went into the sea at Doonagore Bay on October 31st.

Supt Éamon Dolan of Ennistymon Garda station said yesterday: "At 8.30 this morning, a man's body was discovered by members of the Doolin Coast Guard unit at Trá Lathan. The search for the third missing man continues, but weather conditions are very poor." Supt Dolan confirmed last night that a postmortem on the body of the man found yesterday will be carried out today at the Midwestern Regional Hospital in Limerick by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis. Supt Dolan said formal identification of the body would not take place until then.

Yesterday 30 volunteers joined members of the 18-strong Doolin Coast Guard unit and gardaí in the search for the third body.

However, rough seas and gale-force winds prevented the Coast Guard from launching either of its boats, restricting it to a 35-mile search from Galway Bay to Liscannor.

Last night, Mattie Shannon of the Coast Guard said: "We would be confident that the body of the third missing person will be found either later tonight or tomorrow at high tide.

"We have had teams searching on a broader area today from Black Head to Liscannor. We have also had large waves five metres high and we are expecting gale-force-eight winds with a very high swell, so we would be asking people involved in the shore search to be very careful.

The funeral Mass of the first victim, Martin Griffin (24), recovered last Tuesday, was held in Ennis at the weekend.

The last sighting of the 4x4 by three separate witnesses was at about 10am on the bank holiday Monday on farmland overlooking Doonagore Bay.

Gardaí believe the three men slept in the car overnight and that it may have slipped over the ledge into the sea after being accidentally knocked out of gear by one of the men.

A postmortem has already recorded that Martin Griffin died from head injuries, believed to be sustained as the 4x4 hit off cliff ledges on its way into the sea.

It is not the first time that tragedy has struck at the cliffs at Doonagore Bay.

In May 2001 a Tipperary man, who was in his 30s, fell to his death at the cliffs while attending a stag party in the area.

The bodies from last week's tragedy are the first to be recovered by the Doolin Coast Guard this year. It recovered eight last year off the north Clare coast.

Doolin was also the scene of another multiple drowning accident in 1983. During the Lisdoonvarna music festival eight people drowned at Doolin beach.