A man is recovering in hospital after he was rescued from an island in the Shannon Estuary last night.
The man managed to make it safely ashore after his yacht ran aground off Kildysart.
It’s understood that the alarm was raised at around 11.30pm by a member of the public who saw the incident unfold from the shore.
Conditions at the time were too dangerous to launch the Kilrush RNLI lifeboat so the Shannon based search and rescue helicopter, Rescue 115, was tasked to undertake a rescue operation.
The helicopter crew was able to locate the man using the aircraft’s infra-red camera equipment. A member of the crew was winched onto the island and after carrying out an initial medical assessment, the casualty was taken on board.
It was established that the man was suffering from hypothermia and was flown to University Hospital Limerick for treatment.