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LAST UPDATE | 13 Nov 2024
A MAJOR SEARCH operation resumed today to locate a woman missing off Silverstrand in Galway Bay.
Emergency services launched a multi-agency search after reports that a woman in her 30s was missing after swimming at Silverstrand. A man in his 70s was also reported missing at the same beach at the same time, in a separate incident.
The search team yesterday evening located the body of the man who was later identified as renowned singer and songwriter Johnny Duhan (74).
Over 250 volunteers joined rescue teams in the search along the shoreline, while a variety of crafts searched the water throughout the day.
The woman, who is in her early 30s and from Spiddal in Galway, went missing after going for a dip in the sea at Silverstrand near Barna, about seven kilometres west of Galway city.
The alarm was raised initially after songwriter Johnny Duhan, a daily swimmer at Silverstrand, was reported missing when he failed to return to his home in Barna.
Concern was raised for the welfare of the woman when she did not arrive for work and the search was upgraded when her car was located at Silverstrand.
Mr Duhan’s body was found at lunchtime yesterday but an extensive search from the docks in Galway city to Spiddal in Connemara failed to yield any sign of the missing woman.
Gardaí say they are treating the two incidents separately but Supt Paudie O’Shea said they are keeping an open mind on what happened.
“The sequence of events is still a puzzle to us,” he said. “Both parties would have arrived here separately, and they would have been keen and avid visitors to this area, and they would have planned for a dip in the sea each each morning.
“I wouldn’t like to speculate, but it’s quite unusual here in Silverstrand. Yesterday morning, the tide would have been out, so you can actually go out a good distance before you reach water.
“The fog was descended, so it’s a possibility that they got disorientated within that because even here yesterday evening, the fog was lifting and dropping within seconds. So even today, I’m told if you go out a mile, a mile and a half, it’s clear. The fog is hugging the coastline here. So, again, it’s just the nature, what was happening here yesterday morning was quite unique.”
Galway Civil Defence set up a command and control unit at Silverstrand and the search began at first light with the Irish Coast Guard helicopter 117 from Waterford involved in the search.
Superintendent O’Shea paid tribute to all the agencies and the individual volunteers who participated in the search, which will resume again at first light on Thursday morning.
“The fog did descend in the afternoon and impeded the search efforts,” added Supt O’Shea. “We did manage to get Rescue 117 up here to provide top cover for us, but it did prove challenging.
“We would like to extend our thanks to the local community in Galway, in particular the support that we got and the care and the assistance we got from that community has been overwhelming.
“We had people on the ground from out west, from Spiddal. They came in here and also from here in as far the docks. We had 120 people who arrived here alone at this one location. And I would safely say we had a similar volume of people out in Spiddal, more people on the Prom in Salthill. The response from the community was massive and we want to reaffirm our thanks to the local community.
“We will expand the search tomorrow if we have to,” added Supt O’Shea.
Silverstrand Beach is a popular beach in Galway located between Salthill and Barna.
Galway Civil Defence have set up a command and control unit at Silverstrand and Gardai have appealed to volunteer searchers to register their participation at this unit before they start.
“Weather conditions are forecast to be challenging and personal safety is paramount,” said a Garda spokesperson.
Volunteers have been combing the shoreline on foot since first light while others are using drones, jet-skis and kayaks in the search for the missing woman. Other volunteers have been arriving at the search site with warm food and drinks.
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The Journal gets large grants and subsidies from the EU and it’s subsidiaries. So it’s journalists get prizes from the institute that pays their wages.
No need for a “debunking Fact Check” on this
@Denis Slattery: Yes: no need for debunking of something that you simply made up.
@Denis Slattery: whoa there, a deep & groundbreaking investigation into missing child migrants & this ridiculous petty ‘what aboutery’ is your input????
@Denis Slattery: Now you know two wallys that work for the journal
@Pewpew Tin: You’re one sad little virgin. You are lucky your oul one lets you squat in her box room.
@Pewpew Tin: necro creep, Saville would be proud of you. Your parents aren’t
@Pewpew Tin: Had dinner with my family, listen that empty hole in your life can’t be filled with food. Sad lonely little virgin strung out for attention he never got :)
@Pewpew Tin: oooh sick burn virgin haha
@Pewpew Tin: Im actually chuffed, I haven’t been spanked by a virgin in years
@Denis Slattery: And the source for your allegation ‘large grants’ is…?
Would some of these actually be adults that came in whilst posing as children
@Thomas Sheridan: maybe, some, but that’s the usual daily mail type reaction that misses the broader point
@Thomas Sheridan: Saw a post about a 16 year old missing migrant last week with advanced male pattern baldness. Are these lads actually around minors? Is there anyone with working eyeballs in Tusla?
They don’t care, they literally do not care, more migration bigger GDP, bigger population bigger GDP, less wealth to spread around, we all get poorer as the economy gets slightly bigger through consumption.
How many Irish children go missing every year? How many awards? Oh, right, I forgot, nobody cares!
Well done and congratulations to The Journal Investigates. Hopefully their colleagues, The Journal moderators, can do equally excellent work to clear up the multi account spammers who infect this comment section on a constant, daily basis
@Kevin Kerr: here here!!!! Funny thing is I don’t actually mind your stalking but I do get that some would be intimidated 0 fearful of your behaviour
@Kevvy kerrr: fck off
@Kevin Kerr: hi stalker, deep meaningful polite rhetoric as always!!! Right back at ya!!!! Genuine question — why you pick me????
@Kevin Kerr: Yeah be deffo good to see the back of all Stephen Kearons multiple accounts like Pat_Hazzard, noel_lee etc and the likes of the honeybadger and that hoo woo thing..all the crazy trump and kamalla bots .. and the far righ bots including the Israelis, the far left bots
@Kevin Kerr: appreciate you’re only trolling … but keep it civil, no need to go in the gutter
Missing children immigrants is one thing but when some 39 year old illegal immigrant who has destroyed their passport on a cheap flight from say Afghanistan, Nigeria or Algeria identifies as a 14 year old, well that’s another story, just not by the Journal.
Excellent work journal news hounds! You guys are the best
@Buster Lawless: yes 100%, no stone left unturned!!!!
@J B: more like an IRA nutting squad they are that ruthless.
Comments open
@Jb Walshe: It would appear so. Well spotted.
@Stephen Heffernan: perhaps they should recruit ‘jb walshe’ onto the investigative team, like a poiroit crossed with morse he is
@Jb Walshe: Nothing gets past you JB. I wonder will you be nominated for an award for that ground breaking piece of analysis.
They both folded their arms for the photo so they must be serious journalists. Congratulations on your reward, it must feel like getting a pat on the head from daddy when you used the potty for the first time, going by the pictures it wasn’t all that long ago.
Kudos! Great to see some real journalism happening, having an impact and being acknowledged.
Surely there’s some kind of accolade -award for this outstanding ( & dangerous) investigative journalism?. Then again, I’ve no doubt Patricia & Maria are in this for back slapping, well done guys, outstanding work
@Kevvy kerrr: they deserve the Roger Cook award. He was fearless.
@Kevvy kerrr: “ARE’NT” ,, bloody predictive text
@Buster Lawless: well, nobody could possibly argue with that!!!!
@Frank Mc Carthy: An entire comment thread, talking to yourself. Wow.
@FlipBip: I’ve been looking for ages for the journal.ie to carry out an investigation AND CULL of all the looners on here, even got my v own private stalker but as yet, nothing
@Frank Mc Carthy: Cool story.
@Frank Mc Carthy: once again. You should reply using the same account you posted the original on Frank / Kevvy / (I am suspecting) Buster. Now that was a massive faux pas, correcting the content of the message which was incorrectly written due to predictive text, FROM THE WRONG ACCOUNT!! Now I already knew you and Kevvy were the same person from a few days back when both accounts misspelled Kamala as Kamila in the space of a few mins of each other on separate threads. But I have a serious question to ask, would you mind answering? Have you got any form of life? How pathetic is it that you feel the need to have multiple journal accounts? You’re an embarrassing sad case tbf.
@Eoin Jackson: pewpewtim is one of theirs too and possibly freedapeople too imo.
@Eoin Jackson: what is this all about?
@Chutes: ….. and most likely Larry Betts, imo.
@Buster Lawless: methinks the multi account trolls are amalgating?????
@Chutes: what happened to ‘d paedo’ & ‘ offside again ‘….. Weren’t they under ye’re umbrella????
@Kevvy kerrr: yes I’m a multi troll account Kevvy / Frank, just been dormant for nearly 12 years, you absolute twit.
@Kevvy kerrr: Stop projecting. Stop imitating other people’s accounts. Stop being such a child!
The journal is not exactly a balanced view, everyone needs to be aware of this when reading their biased mediocre articles!
My comments have been removed twice from this article . Why ?
Congratulations to all involved. It’s not easy operating in the current environment. Respect for effort and diligence is now dismissed with nothing more than a bunch of Trumpian sound bites and clichés. If someone doesn’t like the facts, it’s the usual ‘fake news’ or MSM conspiracy. Zero engagement with the actual information and indeed reality.
They recently had a deep dive into the social media posts that provoked the riots in England during the summer. Incredibly or perhaps unsurprisingly, two thirds were from places thousands of miles away. It would be really interesting to find out how many of the posts here are from Irish people or accounts. Is this something Journal Investigates could do?
We all know there’s a huge volume of posts from abroad seeking to normalise extreme views and pull people further away from moderate and empathetic approaches to people and life. This drip feed is intended to make dangerous and inhumane policies appear normal and acceptable. We know from history and the current climate that this works. Maybe a breakdown of the exact numbers will help some people to realise that so many of these posts are not Irish and are simply there to pull us further away from a baseline of decency.
Always remember that these kind of comment sections are infested with bad actors from groups with the sole aim of stirring unrest and hate to further their political aims. There’s still a lot of decency in most Irish people. Let’s not be duped into believing everyone is now a frothing, hateful Trump supporter who sees nothing wrong with Putin, and couldn’t care less about injustice and suffering elsewhere.,
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