A woman is recovering in hospital after she had to be airlifted from a mountain walking trail in Co Clare on Sunday afternoon.
Watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre on Valentia Island in Co Kerry mounted a search and rescue operation at around 2.30pm after they received a report that a person had been injured in a fall on the walking trail near Gleninagh between Ballyvaughan and Blackhead.
The American tourist in her 60s was reported to have sustained a lower leg injury in the accident.
The Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard was alerted and requested to respond to the location along with the National Ambulance Service (NAS). The Shannon-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter, Rescue 115, was also tasked to the incident.
Doolin Coast Guard volunteers located the casualty at around 3.00pm and directed Rescue 115 to the scene. Shortly before 4.00pm, the injured woman was airlifted from the scene by the helicopter crew and transferred to a location where NAS paramedics were standing by.
She was assessed and treated at the scene before being transported by road to University Hospital Galway for treatment.
The casualty’s partner was safely escorted off the mountain by members of Doolin Coast Guard and was able to accompany the woman to hospital by ambulance.
Described as a “very technical rescue operation’, it was carried out to the highest standards by Doolin Coast Guard, the National Ambulance Service and Rescue 115.
