A 57-YEAR-OLD American woman died after falling more than 9m (30ft) on the Skellig Michael Unesco heritage site off the coast of Kerry yesterday.
The woman is the second tourist to die from a fall on the Skellig rock this year and the accident took place at roughly the same spot as that which claimed the life of a 77-year-old American man in May.
The woman, from Rochester, New York, was accompanied by her husband on the visit to the sixth-century monastic island, which lies just under 12km off the tip of the Iveragh peninsula. The woman sustained head injuries and it is believed she was on her way down when she lost her footing.
Supt Michael O’Donovan said gardaí were taking statements and investigating the accident.
Valentia Coast Guard, which co-ordinated an attempt to transfer the woman by helicopter to Cork University Hospital, said it was notified by a guide on the heritage site, which is managed by the Office of Public Works (OPW), at 11.30am.
The Shannon-based Sikorsky rescue helicopter had arrived on the landing pad on the island and the woman was attended to by a doctor and a nurse who were also visiting the island. However, she died on the island and her body was being brought back into Portmagee by the Valentia lifeboat yesterday and brought to Kerry General Hospital where a postmortem will be carried out.
Earlier this year, Joseph Gaughan, from Wilkbar, Pennsylvania, died when he fell more than 30ft after losing his footing on the steep descent. The coroner at the inquest into Mr Gaughan’s death called for additional warning signs to highlight the danger of the steepness of the climb to the monastic site.
Warning signs were already in place, but more would be erected, the OPW said. Three weeks ago a mock rescue and safety exercise involving all of the emergency services took place on Skellig.
There have been persistent calls over the past two years by local Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Cahill to erect a rope barrier along the steep climb to protect visitors. The OPW has ruled this out on the grounds that senior conservation officers feel a rope would detract from the integrity of the site.