GARDAÍ ARE INVESTIGATING the circumstances surrounding the discovery of a body in Co Clare this afternoon.

The find was made while a major search was ongoing in the area around the Cliffs of Moher where a woman was reported missing on Wednesday night.

As that search was continuing, Gardaí received a report from a couple out walking at Freagh Point near Miltown Malbay, that they had found a person on the shoreline. It’s understood the body was discovered at the high water line and is likely to have been washed ashore with the last high tide.

Gardaí and National Ambulance Service paramedics responded to the call along with volunteers from the Kilkee unit of the Irish Coast Guard.

The scene at Freagh Point, which is about eight kilometres south of the search area, on the other side of Liscannor Bay, has been sealed off pending completion of a technical examination.

A formal identification has yet to be made it’s so it’s not clear whether the body is that of the woman missing from the Cliffs of Moher.

It’s understood she was aged in her late 20s and from the east of the country.

The search, which commenced on Wednesday evening, had involved the Shannon based search and rescue helicopter; divers from the Garda Water Unit; Kilkee Coast Guard; the Aran Islands RNLI lifeboat; the Civil Defence from counties Clare and Galway and local Gardaí.

A Garda spokesman confirmed: “Gardaí in Ennistymon are investigating all the circumstances in relation to the discovery of a body of a woman at Freagh Point this afternoon.

“Gardaí attended the scene which is currently preserved at this time. A post mortem will be conducted in due course which will determine the course of the investigation. A file will be prepared for the Coroner’s Court.”