The Irish Coast Guard raced to assist a cruise boat with four people on board after their vessel suffered engine trouble and its anchor line snapped.
The incident happened on Saturday afternoon in ‘difficult weather conditions’ on Lough Derg.
The alarm was raised at around 1.00pm when the Irish Coast Guard received an emergency call reporting a 33ft cruiser in difficulty near Terryglass.
The cruiser is understood to have left Portumna in Co Galway and was heading south it experienced engine trouble.
The boat’s crew dropped the anchor however, in the rough weather conditions, the anchor line snapped leaving the vessel adrift and in danger of running aground.
A crew from the Killaloe unit of the Irish Coast Guard Unit, who had been on a training exercise at the time, was alerted and requested to respond to the incident.
On arriving at the scene, a tow was set up and the vessel was brought to safety in Terryglass Harbour where it was met by other Coast Guard members.
As the boat was unable to continue its journey, arrangements were made for the four people to be collected in Terryglass.
A Coast Guard spokesman said: “This successful operation was carried out in very challenging conditions. One of our crews was out training at the time of the call so they were able to respond to the incident directly. We’d always remind people to call 112/999 and ask for the Coast Guard if the see anybody in difficulty on the water.”
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