The Kilkee Coast Guard put to sea for a third day in attempts to find a missing person from Lissycasey, Co Clare since Friday.
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He was winched on to the helicopter at around 5.30pm and flown to hospital.
Two other members of the coast guard were also dislodged from the boat which was taking part in a search off the Clare coast for a missing local man.
The Coast Guard says around 10 p.m. Sunday people in Long Beach reported a man entered the water near Franklin Boulevard.
Units from many different agencies responded, including the Coast Guard’s Jones Beach unit, an air unit from Atlantic City, the Nassau County Marine Unit, the Lawrence/Cedarhurst Fire Department, the Freeport Fire Department and the Atlantic Beach Search and Rescue.
It is understood the mission they had been tasked on was a “recovery” for the body of the missing man rather than a rescue.
Manuel Dilucia, founder of the Kilkee Marine Rescue, told Independent.ie earlier: “He is in there, been there for approximately four hours”.
Irish Coast Guard helicopter.
Their rigid inflatable boat (RIB) overturned shortly after 1pm when it hit a heavy swell near the cliffs at Kilkee.
The incident happened off the coast of Kilkee in Co.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the coastguard crew and their families who were involved in this terrible incident this afternoon in Kilkee”, he said.
It is understood conditions had prevented the search operation from going out until before lunchtime and there were reports of heavy swells before the tragedy struck.
Once the alarm was raised on Monday a major rescue operation was mounted with the Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard along with Kilrush and Aran Islands RNLI lifeboats being mobilised.
The Shannon based search and rescue helicopter Rescue 115 has recovered one casualty while a second helicopter is on its way to the scene.
Clare TD Pat Breen expressed his condolences following the tragedy.
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It is believed that the member of the crew who died is a woman.
