A man in his 50s has drowned after going fishing in a boat off the Co Cork coast.
The alarm was raised at about 7.30am when debris was spotted in the water near Blackball Head west of Castletownbere on the Beara Peninsula.
The Irish Coast Guard Marine Rescue Co-Ordination Centre at Valentia launched an operation and a boat from Castletownbere RNLI went to the scene.
The Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 from Shannon was also tasked to assist in the search operation, which also involved a number of local trawlers and smaller craft.
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The crew of a small punt found the man in the water at about 8.20am and brought him to the RNLI boat, which took him to port at Castletownbere.
He was pronounced dead on the pier in Castletownbere by a local GP and his body was taken to the morgue at Cork University Hospital for a postmortem.
It is understood the man had been alone on his boat while fishing.
Gardaí will prepare a file on his death for an inquest. His name will not be released until all next of kin have been notified.
It is understood he was from Beara and had worked on fishing vessels previously. He had worked ashore for a number of years before returning to fishing last year when he bought a boat.
There was no sign of the man’s 10-metre boat, which passed safety certification checks last year, when rescuers arrived on the scene. It is not known what happened to it.
Authorities continue to investigate the circumstances of the incident.