A multi-agency search and rescue operation was mounted this morning after a tractor was discovered overturned in a river in North Clare.
The alarm was raised at around 10.30am after a passer-by called the Irish Coast Guard to report finding the vehicle lying on its side in the Aille River at Coolagh Bridge close to Doolin.
The Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard, Ennistymon Fire Service, National Ambulance Service and the Shannon-based search and rescue helicopter were all alerted and tasked to the incident. Gardaí were also informed.
Volunteers from the Doolin unit of the Coast Guard and fire service personnel trained in water rescue, carried out a search of the area and downriver from the scene. No person was found.
It was soon established that the man had made his way from the scene to a local house. While it’s not known whether he was injured, it’s understood he did not require hospitalisation.
The incident is understood to have occurred last night but the tractor was only discovered in the river this morning. The vehicle is believed to have left the road and crashed about 20 metres down a steep embankment into the water.
Once it was confirmed that there was no one missing and that man believed to have been driving the tractor was safe, the search operation was stood down.
