Man dies in tragic accident on Cape Clear

BY OLIVIA KELLEHER

A MAN  in his forties has died following an accident on Cape Clear.

It is understood the man, who has been named as David Latten (44), was playing football with members of his family late yesterday afternoon (Saturday) when their ball went over the cliff. The man set off on a route to the foot of the cliffs to get the ball back. However, he failed to return. A family member raised the alarm.

A search operation was carried out involving the Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 and Baltimore's RNLI lifeboat The body of the man was subsequently recovered during the search. He was taken to Baltimore RNLI station where he was pronounced dead by an area GP. It is understood the deceased man is from County Cork.

A postmortem will be carried out at Cork University Hospital to determine the exact cause of death. It is not known if he died of a head injury or drowning.

The coroner has been informed and a file will be prepared for the Coroner's Court. The death is being treated as a tragic accident. Baltimore RNLI have said they were requested to launch last night (Saturday) at 8.10pm by Valentia Coast Guard, following reports that a person was in the water off Cape Clear.

Both the all-weather and inshore lifeboats were launched, and a person was taken from the water and brought onboard the inshore lifeboat, by lifeboat crew.  They returned to the Baltimore lifeboat station, before transferring the person into the care of emergency services.