Two fishermen have been airlifted to hospital after their boat capsized on Lough Derg this afternoon.
The alarm was raised at around 3.30pm when a member of the public reported two people calling for help from a fishing boat off Mountshannon in Co Clare.
Watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue sub centre on Valentia Island in Kerry quickly mounted a search and rescue operation.
The Shannon based helicopter, Rescue 115, was sent to the scene while the Killaloe unit of the Irish Coast Guard was also alerted.
Members of Killaloe Coast Guard quickly launched their rescue boat and made their way north along the lake to the incident. Other volunteers travelled to Mountshannon by road.
On arrival at the scene the helicopter quickly located the casualties who were by then sitting on top of their boat which had capsized.
The pair were winched on board the helicopter and flown directly to University Hospital Limerick.
One was reported to be suffering from hypothermia however neither is believed to have been seriously harmed.
The Coast Guard boat secured the upturned boat and took it on tow. It took over an hour to recover the boat to Mountshannon harbour when a Coast Guard land crew was waiting to assist.