Gardaí have confirmed that a body discovered on the shoreline on one of the Aran Islands last Friday is that of a man who fell into the sea in Clare two weeks ago.
The search for 45-year-old Andrey Maltsev, who had been living and working in Limerick, was stood down on Tuesday night after gardaí confirmed they had formally identified his remains.
Mr Maltsev fell into the sea off rocks near Doonbeg, Co Clare, early on the morning of September 16th last. He had been shore angling with a friend at the notorious Blue Pool when tragedy struck.
It was originally thought he had been swept to his death by a rogue wave however, it has emerged that the line on his fishing rod had become tangled on rocks and he lost his footing while attempting to free it.
Searches
It is understood that Mr Maltsev’s friend, who had poor English, drove over 60km to Limerick to alert friends who in turn notified the emergency services.
Divers from the Naval Service and Garda Water Unit, along with members of five sub aqua clubs, carried out searches over a number of days.
While a body was washed up on the shoreline at Inishmaan on Friday evening last, 40km north of where he fell into the sea, the search for Mr Maltsev continued in Co Clare.
A postmortem examination was carried out at University Hospital Galway and following tests, the identity of the body was confirmed on Tuesday.
Gardaí from Kilrush then travelled to Limerick to inform Mr Maltsev's family.
Mr Maltsev’s wife, sister and other family members visited the search area over the past fortnight while over 50 people from the Limerick area, including work colleagues, also volunteered to help with the search.