Search called off for man (50s) who fell overboard from yacht

Sarah Slater

The search for a man in his 50s who fell overboard from a yacht off the Waterford coast on Saturday night has been called off.

The rescue began when an alert was raised by another man, believed to be related to the missing person, who was still onboard the UK-registered vessel at 10.40pm.

Both men are understood to be from Wales.

The operation was launched after the Coast Guard received an emergency call from the man still onboard the yacht.

The UK Coast Guard was also contacted after the man said he believed the vessel was off the coast of Swansea in Wales. They were travelling from Brighton to Swansea via Falmouth.

The yacht was located 16 nautical miles off the south of Dunmore East in the Irish Sea.

The man onboard the yacht was taken safely to shore by search and rescue teams.

Waterford-based Coast Guard helicopter 117 carried out searches for the missing man on Saturday night, assisted by a fixed-wing aircraft from the UK and the RNLI lifeboats from Dunmore East in Waterford and Ballycotton, Co Cork.

Coast Guard helicopter 116 based out of Dublin joined the search operation on Sunday.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said the search concluded at 3pm on Monday following a comprehensive operation coordinated by the Coast Guard Marine Rescue Coordination Centre in Dublin.