Irish Water Safety is warning of the dangerous consequences of tombstoning and jumping from cliffs into the sea.

A horrifying video showing a group of young people jumping into the sea from cliffs in Kilkee, Co. Clare has caused the CEO of Irish Water Safety to speak out about the dangers of the “tombstoning” practice.

The six youths are seen narrowly avoiding the rocks in the water below as they launch themselves from the cliff top. The video has already been viewed almost 3,000 times, causing CEO of Irish Water Safety, John Leech, to release a statement warning of the dangers of jumping into water from such a height.

"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.

Read more: Cliff diving off the Aran Islands, can you say vertigo!

@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

"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.

"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."

H/T: Irish Examiner