A STOLEN boat set adrift on the river Shannon sparked a massive search and rescue operation on Friday night when it was feared a fisherman had fallen overboard.
The alarm was raised by a man who had been fishing on the lower lake, part of the Shannon network, south of Killaloe. The fisherman reported seeing a fishing boat adrift with no signs of life on board.
About 90 minutes earlier, the same man had observed a similar boat in the same area with a person on board and feared that the man had fallen into the water.