Third mother plunges from clifftop as she visits scene of late son's death

A third mother lost her life last night as she visited the scene of her son's death on an island off the Mayo coast. Four men in their mid 20s were killed at the scene last July as they were swept into waters after falling from the clifftop. Eye witnesses reported how the men had been hurling stones into the waters below. One of them had pulled at a rock that was in fact embedded into the clifftop, and a large chunk of the cliff subsequently fell away - along with the four men - into the water.

The retirement age mother had recently determined that she ought to see the site of her son's demise, and visited the scene only to fall to her own death yesterday evening. Witnesses claim that she was blown from the cliff by a sudden gust of wind that first swept a wig off her head, and - as she tried to catch the hairpiece - threw her off balance, sending her into the blustery waters and sparing her some embarrassment.

Photo by Irene Chaney

The third mother to die visiting the site, it is the eighth death in total since the original four man tragedy, and it may be just the incentive needed to install a railing on the cliff top. The only local councillor who had been advocating a railing installation fell from the clifftop himself in January.