A fisherman was airlifted from a trawler off the west coast in the early hours of this morning.
The 55-year-old man was on board a French registered vessel about 170 kilometres west of Co Clare when he complained of chest pains.
The alarm was raised at around 11.00pm when the trawler’s skipper contacted the Irish Coast Guard marine rescue sub centre on Valentia Island in Kerry.
The Shannon based search and rescue helicopter, Rescue 115, was tasked to undertake the medevac mission and took off at around 11.30pm.
A second helicopter, the Waterford based Rescue 117, was requested to reposition to Shannon Airport where it remained on standby in case another incident arose.
Rescue 115 proceeded to meet the vessel and on reaching the scene, a paramedic was winched onto the deck of the trawler where he assessed the patient.
The casualty was then winched onto the helicopter and flown to University Hospital Limerick where he arrived at around 2.00am.