Young people warned about 'tombstoning' into sea
Young people are being warned that the consequences of "tombstoning" into the sea can be tragic after a number of youths were filmed jumping from cliffs in Co Clare yesterday.
The six people who jumped from the cliffs in Kilkee just narrowly missed the rocks below before splashing into the sea.
The video has been viewed more than 12 hundred times since being posted online this morning.
@DermotTodayFM @DaveTodayFM young lads jumping from the cliffs in Kilkee yesterday, missing the rocks by a couple of feet then have to climb the cliff face to the top again once they time it right to get out with the waves.. #NewPantsNeededJustLookingAtIt pic.twitter.com/gATzQSH5hp
— Chris Mc Kiernan🔰🌻🇵🇸 (@chriskat1) July 23, 2018
The CEO of Irish Water Safety, John Leech, says jumping from such a large height poses a number of risks:
"Very often the people that are doing it don't understand about the height of tide and they can do it at low water, especially at a low water spring tide where there's very little water underneath them," he said.
They end up then injuring themselves so we hear of quite a few injuries around the coastline, unfortunately, every year from people tombstoning so we don't obviously recommend it.
Mr Leech went on to say it is not a safe way to act around water.
He said: "It is a very dangerous activity where people jump from heights, dare each other to do it and unfortunately the consequences can be very tragic.
"You can't actually see the bottom and you have no way of judging the depth of the water. It is a very high-risk activity."
