Kelly Jones found alive

American tourist Kelly Jones (41) was today (Wednesday) discovered alive in a disused Church of Ireland rectory in Glencolmcille, Co Donegal.

Jones, from Charleston, South Carolina, had been missing since Friday.

A major rescue effort was launched after the alarm was raised when she went missing from Malinmore hostel where she was staying.

Local volunteers joined Garda units, the coastguard, and Donegal Mountain Rescue volunteers in the search of the rural west Donegal parish.

Ms Jones was discovered by a search team led by local Garda Odie McBride.

It is understood that local man Michael O’Garda made the discovery shortly after midday.

Ms Jones was found in a Church of Ireland rectory which is unoccupied for most of the year, and brought out – apparently unconscious – by a stretcher team of Gardai and rescue workers.

She was evacuated to Sligo regional hospital by helicopter.

Garda McBride expressed his thanks to everyone who had taken part in the search, and to local GAA club Naomh Columba who made their facilities available as a search coordination centre and provided refreshments for the searchers.

[Note: Glencolmcille is my home, and purely by change I happened to be there yesterday when Kelly Jones was found. The video above was recorded on my phone (a Samsung Galaxy i9000, for those of you interested) and featured on RTE News. Still shots from the video were also used in the Irish Daily Star, Irish Independent, and Examiner (front page).]