Search intensifies for missing Limerick teen

Searches for a missing 15-year-old Limerick girl were intensified yesterday.

Chloe Kinsella was last seen on Saturday when she arrived home to Kenyon Avenue, Kileely, at 8pm and went to her bedroom. Some 20 minutes later, it is understood she left through an upstairs window.

Hundreds of people have joined in the search for Chloe, described by her sister as a “normal teenager girl who loves her fashion and style”.

Linsey Kinsella (23) said it was completely out of character for her younger sister not to come home at night. She said Chloe, whose younger sister Sophie died from a heart illness in 2004, is very close to her mother, Shirley.

'Mammy's girl'
"[Chloe] is the youngest daughter now and is a real mammy's girl," said Linsey. "She would always be home on time or ring one of us to ask mam if she could stay at her friend's a bit longer. She didn't have her phone with her on Saturday when she left and she wouldn't have had any money. My mother is in bits."

Last seen wearing a white top, shorts and black tights, Chloe may also have been wearing a pink pyjama bottoms with black Ugg boots and a pink hoody.

She is described as being 5 ft, with fair or light brown shoulder-length hair and blue eyes.

On Friday night before her disappearance, Chloe queued for hours to get a coveted One Direction concert ticket.

Some of her classmates at St Nessan’s Community College in Limerick had been given time day off to help with the search operation, but Garda co-ordinated searches with adult volunteers and community leaders are now in place.

Hundreds of volunteers
Hundreds of people have been involved in the search for Chloe, while local businesses have also provided food to those looking for the teenager.

The Shannon-based Rescue 115 Coast Guard helicopter has also been dispatched to search the river Shannon, and the Limerick Marine Search and Rescue Service has also been drafted in to carry out water searches.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Mayorstone Garda Station at 061 456980 or on the Garda Confidential line 1800 666 111.

Chief Supt Dave Sheahan said every effort is being made to locate her.

A Facebook page called “Help Find Chloe Kinsella” has more than 37,000 members.

Searches are being co-ordinated from Kileely Community Centre in groups of 50 and only those over 18 are permitted to take part.