Sadness has been expressed today in the community of Meelick, Co. Clare after the tragic death of a local teenager at the Ardnacrusha Reservoir.
Seventeen year old Joe Kileen from Meelick was recovered from the water near Barry’s Cross yesterday evening, after he failed to resurface while swimming with friends at the Ardnacrusha site.
The teenager was pronounced dead at University Hospital Limerick, where a post mortem is due to be carried out today.
Local Councilor Pascal Fitzgerald says this tragedy is something you don’t think about in your own community, and has expressed his condolences to the victim’s family.
With this there are renewed appeals to Clare people to exercise extreme caution in the county’s bathing spots this weekend, as this local tragedy brings to five, the number of waterway fatalities in the country this week.
Clare Water Safety Officer Liam Griffin has appealed to people to swim at guarded areas only.
