A multi-agency search and rescue operation was mounted in the Killaloe-Ballina area yesterday following reports of a person in the water.
Watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre on Valentia Island in Kerry mounted and coordinated the rescue effort after receiving an emergency call shortly before 5.00pm reporting a person in the River Shannon south of the bridge at Killaloe-Ballina.
The Killaloe unit of the Irish Coast Guard mobilised one boat from their base at Pier Head while a second smaller craft was transported by road further down river and launched from the public slipway at Ballina.
Units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Killaloe station, National Ambulance Service paramedics and Gardaí also responded to the incident. Killaloe Coast Guard shore teams also made their way to the area by road.
The Waterford-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter, Rescue 117, was tasked to the incident.
While rescue teams responded to the scene, it was confirmed that the woman was helped on board a vessel moored on the Tipperary shore at Ballina.
A Coast Guard boat crew reached the scene quickly and boarded the vessel where they carried out an assessment of the casualty. The woman was wrapped in warm blankets and monitored until ambulance paramedics arrived a short time later.
Coast Guard and fire service personnel then worked together to transfer the casualty from the vessel to the waiting ambulance. The woman was transported to University Hospital Limerick for treatment.