Sarah Slater
The body of a female runner and hillwalking enthusiast, missing for 30 hours, has been located on the Comeragh mountains around 6.30pm.
Search teams had been expected to resume their exhaustive bid to locate her along the extensive Comeragh mountain range on Tuesday. She was last seen at 12.45pm on Sunday.
The Coast Guard air and sea rescue 117 Sikorsky helicopter used a heat camera for several hours throughout Monday afternoon in a bid to pinpoint where the married mother might have been.
Up to 30 highly trained members of mountain rescue teams took part in the search along the Tipperary/Waterford mountain range.
Gardaí and mountain rescue located the woman's body close to an area where she had been believed to have been last seen.
The woman in her late 30s/early 40s was due to return from her run along the Coumshingaun Loop trail at 2pm but when her husband did not hear from her, he alerted emergency services at 3pm.
Multi-agency search
She had been in constant contact with family members prior to 2pm.
The South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association (SEMRA) led the multi-agency search along with Search And Rescue Dog Association Ireland (SADRA), Rescue 117 of the Irish Coast Guard and local gardaí.
On Monday mountain rescue volunteers from other parts of the country including members of Kerry Mountain Rescue, Dublin and Wicklow search teams and the Glen of Imaal mountain rescuers joined the search.
Civil Defence volunteers also began assisting in the search. Two SADRA dogs are also on the extensive mountain range helping with the wide ranging search.
Liz Browne, a SEMRA spokesperson said: “About half a dozen search parties continued their thrall of gullies along parts of the Comeraghs close to lake Coumshingaun throughout the day.
“I can confirm that the body of a woman has been found on the Comeragh mountains and the search has stopped.”
It is understood that the woman’s body will be taken from the mountain in the coming hours and a postmortem examination will be carried out at University Hospital Waterford.
Tragic accident
A searcher at the scene said: “This is not the outcome we wanted for the woman’s family. It is very rare that such an awful event like this happens. Our thoughts are with the woman’s husband and family.”
Gardaí believe her death was a tragic accident.
