One person suffered minor injuries after an incident on board a vessel on Lough Derg this afternoon.
The Killaloe unit of the Irish Coast Guard was requested to respond to a boat with engine difficulty and an injured person on board south of Portumna on the northern shore of Lough Derg.
The alarm was raised at around 3:40pm when Killaloe Coast Guard was tasked by watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre (MRCC) in Valentia Island.
Watch officers had received reports that a vessel with four persons on board had suffered engine problems and that one person had sustained burn injuries from the overheated engine.
At 3:55pm the Killaloe Coast Guard rescue boat launched from Pier Head Killaloe while a shore team responded to the incident by road. The boat crew reached the casualty vessel at 4.30pm and a crew member was transferred on board with first aid equipment to treat the injured person.
The vessel was then taken on tow back to Cloondavaun Marina on the Galway shore. A Coast Guard team was on hand to assist in the safe mooring of the vessel.
The injured person was assessed by an off duty paramedic and agreed to make his way to a doctor for further assessment and treatment.
While returning from this incident another vessel requested help on Lough Derg north of Killaloe near Two Mile Gate on the Clare shore. The casualty vessel was taken on tow to safety by a passing boat but with engine difficulty still required assistance getting back to safe mooring in Killaloe.
Staff at Valentia MRCC Marine Coordination centre informed the Killaloe Coast Guard crew of the second unfolding incident saying that their assistance might be needed.
However, members of the Garda Water Unit, who were on patrol in the Killaloe area at the time, were contacted and requested to assist. They proceeded to the location and took the vessel on tow back to Killaloe where it was safely moored.
A Coast Guard spokesperson thanked the Garda Water Unit for their assistance during a busy evening on Lough Derg.