Lough Derg RNLI was tasked this afternoon to assist a person on a 23ft cruiser that had suffered engine failure and was left stranded.
Watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre on Valentia Island in Kerry requested the Dromineer based volunteer crew to go to the assistance of a the in Slevoir Bay, the most northerly end of Lough Derg.
The RNLI lifeboat launched at 12.44pm in good conditions. The lifeboat was alongside the casualty vessel at 1.06pm.
The RNLI volunteers found the person on board to be safe and unharmed and wearing their lifejacket. The skipper had dropped anchor to prevent drift on to the rocky shore.
An RNLI crew member was transferred to the casualty boat and established that its starter motor had failed. At 1.22pm, with a lifeboat crew remaining on board, volunteers set up for an alongside tow, they raised the anchor ready to take the cruiser with its skipper to Terryglass, the safest closest harbour. At 1.50pm the casualty vessel was safely tied alongside at Terryglass public harbour.
Peter Kennedy, Deputy Launching Authority at Lough Derg RNLI said: “It’s good to see so many boats enjoying Lough Derg, do remember to study your charts, stay within the navigation channels and know the ‘rules of the road’ when passing other vessels’.
Also this afternoon, the Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard was requested to assist the National Ambulance Service with recovering an injured child from the beach at Spanish Point.
It’s understood the young boy suffered an injury which required that he be immobilised and stretchered to an ambulance.
Lifeguards based at Spanish Point also assisted ambulance paramedics. The child was removed to University Hospital Limerick for treatment.
Meanwhile, a man in his 40s has been airlifted to hospital after he was injured in a fall at his home this afternoon. The incident happened at the man’s home near Doonbeg.
The man was treated at the scene by National Ambulance Service paramedics before he was airlifted to University Hospital Limerick by the Cork-based Irish Community Rapid Response air ambulance, Helimed-92A.
