Garda divers are to continue their search today for a man who jumped into the River Corrib in Galway on Thursday in an attempt to avoid being caught for shoplifting.
The man, in his 20s, who is not from the city, was followed from a shop at Eglinton Street at 1.15pm on Thursday by a security guard who claimed he had stolen items from the shop.
He ran from the shop, with the security guard in pursuit, towards Galway Courthouse before heading for the river at Newtownsmyth, a distance of about half a kilometre.
The man jumped off the riverbank and into the fast-moving river in front of shocked onlookers. He entered a stretch of the river between the Salmon Weir Bridge and O'Brien's Bridge. The river rushes from that point under O'Brien's Bridge and the Wolfe Tone Bridge straight out to sea.
A strong current pulled the man downriver and he quickly disappeared from sight. Gardaí were called to the scene and the Shannon search and rescue helicopter joined the search. Galway Lifeboat was also called and was involved for some 2½ hours, scanning the docks. The search was called off when the light faded on Thursday evening.