Four people were taken to safety by the Irish Coast Guard after their vessel ran aground on Lough Derg on Sunday afternoon.
The alarm was raised shortly before 2.30pm when watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre on Valentia Island in Kerry requested the Killaloe team to ready and launch.
They had received a reported that a sail boat with four persons on board had run aground in the Youghal Bay area of Lough Derg.
A Coast Guard boat crew launched from their based at Pier Head in Killaloe and made their way to the location of the vessel. Weather conditions at the time were challenging with a strong currents pushing the casualty vessel onto rocks.
A number of attempts were made to come alongside the casualty vessel but the area was too shallow with large rocks making the rescue attempt very difficult.
The decision was made to request a second Coast Guard crew to launch the units smaller, flat-bottomed D-class rescue boat. The second boat was transported to Garrykennedy by road and launched from there at 3.30pm.
The D-class successfully made it alongside the casualty vessel, all on board were found to be safe and unharmed but needed to be removed from the vessel to safety.
The first two persons were taken on board the D-class and transported to the larger Rib (rigid inflatable boat)where it was standing by in deeper water. The D-class boat crew returned to evacuated to remaining two persons to safety.
The Rib crew then transported all four occupants to Garrykennedy where a shore team was on hand to assist and take the occupants back to Youghal Harbour.
The Rib then returned back to the grounded vessel where the Coast Guard member had already been transferred from the D-class to the sailboat.
A bridal was set up from the stern of the vessel, a tow line was then attached to the Rib and the vessel was successfully removed from the rocks to deeper water. The vessel was then taken back to Youghal Harbour and safety secured with the help of a shore team.
The Coast Guard teams returned to their based after the three-hour operation.