Woman dies in tragic incident on Carrig Island

A WOMAN in her 60s died following a tragic incident on Carrig Island, Ballylongford, on Monday afternoon.

Emergency services were tasked to the scene of the incident on the northwestern shore of the island at around 2pm on Monday – after members of the public raised the alarm when they spotted the woman’s body on rocks.

The National Ambulance Service, the Listowel Fire Service, the Ballybunion Coastguard Unit and the Ballybunion Sea and Cliff Rescue unit as well as the Kilrush Lifeboat and Shannon Coastguard Helicopter attended the scene under the direction of gardaí.

The Kerryman understands that ambulance and Coastguard medics worked frantically to resuscitate the woman – who was from the local area – prior to and during her airlift to University Hospital Kerry in Tralee. Efforts continued at the hospital to save the woman’s life, but she sadly succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The incident occurred on the northwestern side of the remote island – to the immediate north of the famous Carrigafoyle Castle.

It was the third emergency call out in the greater area in under a fortnight after the Shannon Coastguard Helicopter rescued a five-year-old girl after she drifted a kilometre out from Littor Beach in Asdee on an inflatable toy.

Four teenagers meanwhile retured safe from a scare off the Ladies’ Beach in Ballybunion when they got caught in a rip and were dragged into deep water a week previously.