A postmortem is due to be carried out today on the body of a woman whom it is believed died when picking periwinkles on Bere Island near Castletownbere in West Cork.
The woman - named locally as Kay Mullins, who was in her mid-50s - went picking periwinkles at the western end of the island yesterday morning.
However, when she failed to collect her nieces and nephews from the local school at 3pm, the alarm was raised and locals on the island began a search for her.
The Irish Coastguard Marine Emergency Rescue Centre at Valentia was notified at about 4.30pm and the Irish Coastguard Sikorksi helicopter was tasked to go to the scene.
Castletownbere RNLI Lifeboat vessel the Annette Hutton was also launched and within half a hour had located Ms Mullins's body near a strand on the northwestern corner of Bere Island.
Ms Mullins's body was brought to Cork University Hospital where a postmortem will be carried out today and a file prepared by gardaí for an inquest.
