A search and rescue operation was mounted off the Clare coast this afternoon after a yacht with two people on board was reported to have run aground.
The alarm was raised at around 12.30pm when the Irish Coast Guard was alerted to the unfolding incident in Kilbaha Bay on the Loop Head Peninsula. There were two persons on board the vessel when it ran onto rocks.
Watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre on Valentia Island in Kerry mounted a search and rescue operation.
The Kilrush RNLI lifeboat; Kilkee unit of the Irish Coast Guard, Gardaí and Rescue 115 all responded to the incident.
Other vessels that were in the area at the time also made their way to assist the vessel. Locals helped secure the yacht to a mooring in the bay. The two occupants managed to get off the yacht safely and make it ashore.
The skipper returned to his vessel later as the tide began to turn and prepared to refloat the yacht.
At the 6.15pm, with the help of a number of people on a rigid inflatable boat (rib) and a dinghy, the yacht had enough water beneath it to be refloated and towed firstly to deeper water and then into the small harbour in Kilbaha.
