Body recovered off coast of Kerry during search for missing man

Remains are removed to University Hospital Kerry after being found at inlet

Mallow Search and Rescue boats used in the search operation. Photograph: Mallow Search and Rescue/Facebook
Mallow Search and Rescue boats used in the search operation. Photograph: Mallow Search and Rescue/Facebook

A body has been recovered from the sea off the coast of west Kerry by a team searching for a missing man.

It is understood that the body was recovered shortly after 4pm by members of Mallow Search and Rescue, from an inlet known as Cuas an Reithe.

The body has since been removed to University Hospital Kerry.

A search led by the Irish Coast Guard has been under way since Monday, after a 52-year-old man went missing on Saturday from his west Kerry home. The man, John Cunningham, who is originally from The Lough in Cork city, was reported missing by a neighbour. He had been staying at his home in Dún Chaoin with an elderly relative.

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Gardaí began a missing person’s investigation. Mr Cunningham was known to keep lobster pots at Coumeenole; it was feared he may have been swept off rocks and into the sea by a wave while attending to them.

The search involved gardaí, the Coast Guard and the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre on Valentia Island, which on Tuesday tasked Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 to carry out a search of the area in question.

A Coast Guard drone from Doolin was also dispatched to assist in the search earlier this week.

Jack Horgan-Jones

Jack Horgan-Jones

Jack Horgan-Jones is a Political Correspondent with The Irish Times