(snip) A fellow climber raised the alarm after seeing the American being swept from rocks north of Valentia Island, County Kerry.

Valentia Island coastguard John Falvey told Sky News it appeared the man was hit by a wave at 5pm on Friday while climbing a cliff on the north of the island.

"At this stage we are looking for a body," he said.

The local lifeboat, Shannon search and rescue helicopter, coastguards, cliff rescue teams and local people searched unsuccessfully until nightfall and began again at first light

(snip) [Con] Moriarty said Reardon had just finished a climb on Friday and was standing on a ledge when he was knocked into the sea by a "rogue wave" and was carried out beyond the surf line.

"He vanished from a standing position as opposed to a climbing one," Moriarty said.