Man's body recovered off Galway

Rescuers have recovered the body of a man who was swept out to sea by a freak wave while tending livestock on the Connemara coast…

Rescuers have recovered the body of a man who was swept out to sea by a freak wave while tending livestock on the Connemara coast today.

The accident happened shortly after 5pm when the man, believed to be in his 30s, was working near Lettermore.

Shannon coastguard helicopter and the Casla Bay lifeboat were called immediately and around 20 local people helped in the search for the missing man.

His body was recovered at about 6.55pm, a spokesman for Valentia Coastguard confirmed.

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The man's body will be taken to University College Hospital Galway where a post mortem will be carried out.

The Coastguard spokesman confirmed the drowning was the latest in a number of similar incidents recently where people have been swept to see in difficult weather conditions.

He advised that people should stay away from cliffs in windy and stormy weather.

On November 5th last, a 26-year-old man from Latvia died in front of his wife and child in Co Clare when he was swept into the sea while fishing.

He had been fishing at the notoriously dangerous Blue Pool near Doonbeg when he was washed into the sea by a rogue wave.

Piotr Bedzlowicz, a Polish man, drowned on October 29th when he too was swept out to sea by a freak wave while fishing at Tullig Point, Co Clare.