A BODY was recovered from the shoreline at the Cliffs of Moher during a major search for a teenager yesterday.
A 17-year-old was reported missing on Friday last, and a search of the area was initially carried out by gardai.
The teenager is believed to have travelled here from Switzerland last week.
Members of the Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard were involved in the search over the weekend along with the Shannon based search and rescue helicopter, Rescue 115.
Coast Guard volunteers carrying out a cliff top search on Sunday spotted a body at the base of the cliffs, but conditions were too poor to make a safe recovery.
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Weather conditions in the area have been poor in recent days.
The Garda Water Unit was requested to send divers to Clare to assist with the recovery operation.
Divers arrived in Doolin yesterday morning and carried out a risk assessment before attempting to recover the body yesterday afternoon.
Divers made their way ashore to the base of the cliffs at around 3.30pm and were able to successfully recover the remains.
The body was taken back to the Coast Guard station in Doolin where the casualty was formally pronounced dead.
The body was later removed by hearse to the mortuary at University Hospital Limerick where a post-mortem examination will be carried out.
Gardaí will now prepare a file for the county coroner who will conduct an inquest at a later date.
Gardai are treating the death as a personal tragedy.
MAJOR OPERATION
Last month, six people were rescued from an Irish mountain after a "challenging" nine-hour operation in snowy conditions.
The group, aged in their 20s and 30s, became stuck on a number of crags 150 metres from the bottom of a remote gully below the Bone in the Eastern Reeks in Kerry on March 8.
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The Kerry Mountain Rescue Team had been called to rescue a woman who fell in inaccessible area on the Eastern Reeks at around 4.15pm.
But when the arrived, they discovered that five more people were trapped.
A rope system was set up at the top of the Bone above the gully by a group of 26 volunteers.
Members of the rescue team then abseiled 200 metres down to the group and used haul lines to bring them back up.
They were then brought down off the Bone one by one.
Speaking to RTE News, KMRT's Gerry Christie said conditions were dangerous due to fading light and flurries of snow - making it difficult to reach the group safely.
He said: "It was a challenging operation, in challenging weather, with a happy ending."
