LAST UPDATE | 7 Jun

A MULTI-AGENCY search operation for a man missing off the coast of Co Galway has resumed. 

It resumed this morning at 6am, having been stopped last night at around 2am. 

The man went missing yesterday after entering the water off a boat that was in the water near Carna. 

It’s understood that the man may have been retrieving a dinghy that he used to go ashore.

Gardaí and the Irish Coast Guard responded to reports of an individual in the water shortly after 6.15pm yesterday. 

Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 is involved in the search this morning, along with lifeboats from the RNLI Aran Islands unit, the Costello Bay unit and the RNLI Clifden Lifeboat Station.

All these assets also assisted in the search yesterday evening. 

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, divisional controller with the Irish Coast Guard John Draper said that the Aran Island and Clifden lifeboats are currently searching around MacDara’s Island.

Draper said the call came in yesterday from the man’s wife, and that they had anchored their yacht on the eastern side of MacDara’s Island.

However, the dinghy drifted off in the current and the man swam after it. 

After he got into difficulty, his wife made the call to the Coast Guard. 

Draper added that conditions were “reasonably favourable” yesterday evening and are similar this morning. 

He also remarked that it’s unlikely the man would have reached an island in the area and that the search teams are “saturating the area” in an effort to locate the man. 

However, James Mullen, who is in charge of the RNLI Clifden Lifeboat, told RTÉ’s Today With Claire Byrne that the “weather has turned a bit this morning”.

“It is a bit challenging for searching,” said Mullen, who added that there is “nothing to report as yet”.

He added that the search is a “testament” to the local community.

“I’m looking at the locals walking the shore, and the shore is getting a good search,” said Mullen

“We’re hoping that maybe he has made it on to one of the islands or has managed to scramble onto one of the rocks and it just looking for help.”

A spokesperson from the Irish Coast Guard added that drone units will be assisting in the operation.

With reporting from Jane Moore and Diarmuid Pepper