
Boy dies after being airlifted to hospital after getting into difficulty in water at Co Sligo beach
A BOY has died after getting into difficulty in the water in Sligo this evening.
The young boy was swimming off Lissadell Beach in Co Sligo on Saturday evening.
According gardai, the boy got into difficulty while swimming.
Emergency services were called to the scene and the boy was airlifted by a Rescue 118 helicopter to Sligo University Hospital.
He was said to be in a serious condition, but has since passed away.
Gardai said that a file will now be prepared for the Coroner's Court.
Sligo County Councillor Thomas Walsh said: "Very sad news this evening."
A spokesperson for the Gardai said: "Gardaí and emergency services attended an incident at Lissadell Beach, Co. Sligo this afternoon Saturday 17th May, 2025 when a young child got into difficulty in the water.
"The male child was airlifted by Rescue 118 to Sligo University Hospital in a serious condition. He has since passed away.
"A file will be prepared for the Coroners Court.
"Investigations ongoing."
1

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BreakingNews.ie
3 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Gardaí arrest man in connection to robbery with a knife in Dublin
Gardaí have arrested a man in connection with a robbery at a retail premises in South Dublin earlier this week. On bank holiday Monday evening a man armed with a knife entered a filling station in Ballybrack Village. Advertisement He threatened staff and took a sum of cash before fleeing the scene. Gardaí from the Shankill Detective Unit arrested a man in the Shankill area of Dublin in connection with the investigation earlier on Friday, He is being detained at a Garda Station in the Dublin Region.


BBC News
3 hours ago
- BBC News
Cliffs of Moher: Inquest told boy slipped in puddle and fell to his death
A 12-year-old boy fell to his death at Ireland's Cliffs of Moher after slipping in a puddle close to the edge, an inquest has Zhao was with his mother and her friends at the beauty spot on the County Clare coast on 23 July last year when he walked ahead of the group.A French tourist who witnessed him fall told Clare Coroner's Court she saw him slip and try to pull himself up by grasping at grass, before he disappeared over the edge. The coroner embraced Zhihan's distraught mother after recording a verdict of accidental death. Zhihan and his mother, Xianhong Huang, both Chinese nationals, had arrived in Ireland 12 days before his fatal fall. In her deposition, Ms Huang said that Zhihan was walking ahead of her on the Cliffs of Moher trail and she lost sight of him."My son walked very fast and was ahead of us by 50 metres," she said."As there was only one path, I thought we would meet him along the way. "When I didn't, I walked to the visitor centre and I checked the visitor centre."Unable to find him at the visitor centre, she returned to the path to search for him and when there was no sign of him, she reported him Huang said she last saw Zhihan at 13:00 that day and the court heard she provided gardaí (Irish police) with a photo of him she had taken earlier on the through an interpreter at the inquest in Kilrush, County Clare, Ms Huang, wiping away tears, asked: "What exactly caused Zhihan to fall from the cliffs?"Clare County Coroner Isobel O'Dea told the grieving mother that the evidence of an eyewitness would help answer that question. French tourist, Marion Tourgon, told the inquest she witnessed Zhihan falling over the edge at about 13:45 that Tourgon explained she was at the edge of the cliffs with her husband and two children and they were taking a selfie at the time. She describing seeing a young Asian boy, who was alone, come into view."I saw him slipping in the puddle that appears in the photo that my husband sent to the police," the witness said. "His right foot slipped into the puddle, with him trying to stop himself from falling with his left foot but his left foot ended up in the air."Ms Tourgon added: "It was very quick - he found himself in an awkward position with his left foot in a void over the cliff and his right knee on the edge of the cliff."She continued: "His right knee eventually fell into the void over the cliff and he was trying to grasp the grass with his hands to pull himself up. "He didn't shout and there was no noise."The Tourgon family then phoned the emergency air, land and sea search operation began involving the Irish Coast Guard, gardaí, and Irish civil defence volunteers who used boats, drones, divers and a helicopter. Five day search for missing boy A police witness, Garda Colm Collins, told the inquest he received a call at 14:00 that day after a male was seen falling off the edge of the Cliffs of Moher. He said that the Irish Coast Guard had spotted a body floating in the water at the base of the cliffs. The court heard a lifeboat was launched but it was was not able to access the site where the body was spotted due to the sea was another five days before Zhihan's body was eventually recovered from the boy was found by a fisherman, Matthew O'Halloran, from Corofin, County spotted a body facedown and arms extended in the water between Doolin and the Aran Islands shortly after 10:00 local time on 28 July 2024. Mr O'Halloran alerted the Irish Coast Guard and its members retrieved Zhihan's body and brought it ashore at coroner said post-mortem results had confirmed that Zhihan died from multiple traumatic injuries consistent with a fall from a height."It is clear from evidence we heard that Zhihan slipped off the cliffs rather than any other way. His death would have been very quick - instantaneous."Addressing the boy's mother, she said: "I can't imagine how upsetting this is for you."Ms O'Dea also extended her sympathies to Zhihan's father who was not present at the embraced Ms Huang as she left the coroner's accident was the second fatal fall at the Cliffs of Moher within a three-month period last year. In May 2024, a student in her 20s lost her footing while walking with friends and fell to her death. Since August last year, large sections of the Cliffs of Moher trail have been closed due to safety the time, the Clare Local Development Company confirmed that it was taking the action following the two fatal accidents.


BreakingNews.ie
5 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Jury dismisses allegations against Garda into alleged 'sorting out' of insurance offences
A serving Garda was found not guilty by a jury of charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice after allegations he 'sorted out' motoring offences for drivers. Garda Tom Flavin was acquitted of a total of 22 counts of allegedly attempting to pervert the course of justice by a jury at Limerick Circuit Criminal Court following an eight-day trial. Advertisement On Friday, the jury returned unanimous not guilty verdicts on 17 of the charges. Earlier the jury was directed by the trial judge, Colin Daly, to return not guilty verdicts in respect of five counts against Garda Flavin. The long serving and respected Co Limerick Garda, who had consistently denied all of the charges, was supported in court throughout the trial by a large gathering of family friends and colleagues. On Thursday, Garda Flavin's barrister, senior counsel Mark Nicholas, instructed by solicitor Dan O'Gorman, urged the jury to acquit the garda of all of the charges, and said there was no evidence of wrongdoing by the accused. Advertisement Garda Flavin was arrested and charged following an investigation by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) and ultimately accused of knowingly entering false motor insurance details on the Garda Pulse computer records system, in an attempt to frustrate potential prosecutions against persons for driving without insurance. His trial heard that the drivers involved were stopped at routine Garda checkpoints around the country and asked by the garda present to produce their insurance and licence details at a nominated Garda station within ten days of the traffic stop. All of the drivers involved nominated Rathkeale garda station, and, later, when the investigating garda in each of the traffic stops carried out follow up checks of Pulse they were satisfied the details entered indicated that the driver in each case was insured. However, the court heard some of the drivers were actually not insured and had actually been prosecuted in court after pleading guilty to driving without insurance. Advertisement Mr Nicholas told the jury Mr Flavin was an exemplary garda who had served with dedication in Croom and Rathkeale, Co Limerick, for many years. The defence barrister had urged the jury to acquit and not fall into the trap of speculation, remarking to the jury that there was radically insufficient evidence to support a conviction against Garda Flavin. 'He (Mr Flavin) served his community without blemish and without any disciplinary blots - you know that from the evidence. "When other gardaí came to give evidence, his superiors, they spoke of him very fondly and well - It wasn't far off gushing and they spoke with knowledge,' Mr Nicholas told the jury in his closing speech, Thursday. Advertisement Mr Nicholas spoke of the 'unique challenges' gardaí face in Rathkeale as opposed to other jurisdictions: 'People who live down here know it has an enormous population, transient, in and out at various times of the year. "One policeman said (the population) quadruples and with that comes its own set of problems and own sets of vehicles - UK car registrations, UK insurance, some not insured, some not being entirely truthful.' 'We know that a certain number of times that people who were pulled up and stopped and asked for their documentation, produced bogus insurance certificates.' Mr Nicholas said the charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice, is an extraordinarily, serious allegation to make against a serving garda and that the State had 'nothing close' to proving its case. Advertisement The court heard evidence that persons had provided certain documents at Rathkeale garda station, where Garda Flavin was based at the time, however it was unclear who produced the documents nor was it clear what documents they produced. Fiona Murphy SC, prosecuting, had alleged that the evidence would show that Gda Flavin had 'sorted out' the uninsured drivers by inputting data into Pulse to try to frustrate prosecutions against them. However, Ms Murphy had told the jury that the prosecution case was 'a circumstantial case' with 'no direct evidence'. 'Instead, the prosecution relies on indirect evidence,' Ms Murphy said. Ireland Coroner returns verdict of accidental death after... Read More Ms Murphy had explained to the jury that a statute of limitation of 'six months' generally applied in respect of prosecuting offences of driving without insurance. She had argued that all of the relevant data entries into Pulse 'were entered under the ID of Thomas Flavin' and she had alleged that 'Tom Flavin knew they (the drivers) were not covered (by insurance) and that he entered the details onto PULSE to ensure they (appeared) covered'. 'Mr Flavin knew what he was doing, and he did so to ensure those persons were insured (on PULSE) when they were not, in order to ensure there was no prosecution,' Ms Murphy had alleged in court. However, after deliberating for three hours and 21 minutes, the jury disagreed and unanimously dismissed all of the allegations that had been made against Gda Flavin, following an expensive and top-level GNBCI (Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation) probe.