Woman drowns after being swept out to sea in Co Clare

A 53-year-old woman has drowned after being swept out to sea by a wave in north Clare on Sunday morning.

The woman is understood to be from Eastern Europe but had been living in Co Tipperary. A postmortem examination is expected to be carried out on Monday.

The woman was part of a group that had been fishing at Ballyreen, south of Fanore.

The alarm was raised at about 8.45am when the Irish Coast Guard received a report of a person in the water.

Coast Guard teams from Doolin travelled to the scene and an ambulance and gardaí­ also responded.

The boat crew located the woman in the water about a kilometre from where she fell into the sea.

The woman was flown to University Hospital Galway where she was pronounced dead.