Missing man may have been in the water for hours before alarm raised

A search will resume in the morning for a man who fell into the sea in Co Clare earlier today.

The missing man, believed to a Latvian national in his 40s, may have been in the sea for up to two hours before the alarm was raised.

It is understood that two men had been fishing from rocks about 100m south of the lighthouse at Blackhead in North Clare when one fell into the water.

The second man is thought to have gone to get help and when he returned to the scene, there was no sign of his friend.

The Irish Coast Guard marine rescue coordination centre on Valentia Island in Co Kerry mounted a massive search at around 4.30pm.

The Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard was alerted and mobilised to the scene while the Shannon based search and rescue helicopter was also tasked.

The RNLI lifeboat based at Inis Mór in the Aran Islands was also sent to assist in the search.

The helicopter, with its advanced infra-red and heatseeking equipment carried out sweeps of the sea, part of Galway and along the coast south and to the east of the scene.

Coast Guard land crews and gardaí searched the coastline in an effort to locate the missing man.

When there was no sign of the missing man by 6.00pm the search was called off for the night and will resume tomorrow.