Sunday, July 01, 2007

They call it a fishing accident

This news from Ireland is very brief, entitled "Man dies in Clare fishing accident" and it consisted just 4 sentences:
A 24-year-old Lativan man has died in a fishing accident off the coast of Co Clare.

He was part of a group of four men that went fishing in the Blue Pool area of Doonbeg early this morning.

It is thought that a wave swept the man off the rocks.

The coastguard in Valentia has said weather conditions in the area at the time were poor and say the area is notorious for freak waves.
But there is no longer any surprise to this blog on this kind of news anymore. It has happened before and it will happen again at another time and another place. This time it's Co Clare Ireland. The key point is the third sentence: "It is thought that a wave swept the man off the rocks." I guess there is no way as yet to predict where or when a wave will come sweeping the rocks. There is no one, as far as we know, is even attempt to do this kind of research or measurement -- both are utmost needed. So, for now, the only safe way to prevent being swept off the rocks is not to get on those rocks!

Update

On July 2, 2007, another report of the same case appeared in Independent.ie wriiten by Pat Flynn entitled "Angler swept off rocks drowns in sea blackspot." This new report identified the victim angler as of "Moldovan" national rather than "Lativan" as it was identified in the earlier article. This new article, however, also listed two other recent victims from within the same general Co Clare area to justify the area be called a "sea blackspot."

Last November, while he was fishing at the Blue Pool, a 27-year-old Latvian man was swept into the sea, in front of his wife and child. The Latvian man had been living in Athlone.

On October 29th, a Polish man drowned when he was swept out to sea while fishing at Tullig Point, also in Co Clare. Rescuers recovered his body after several days.

I said "It has happened before and it will happen again at another time and another place." But it is downright depressing to see such frequent occurrences in this same "blackspot." It is also of interest to note that all victims are foreigners. May be this is really a matter of the locals knew better!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately around west Clare we're seeing a lot of foreign visitors drowning due to their lack of knowledge of the dangers of these areas. As a regular angler in this part of the world I'm well aware of the dangers and if fishing these kinds of places i've always got a lifejacket and would never go alone. Sadly foreign anglers don't appreciate the risks and dangers of the atlantic and put themselves in danger far too often. Even when pointed out to them that they are in a dangerous area they still don't appreciate how quickly a monster wave can hit the shore.