CLARE RESCUE:AS SUB-ZERO temperatures continued to cause hardship across the island, a decision by a Co Clare farmer to wear a reflective jacket when out feeding cattle may have saved his life.
The Irish Coast Guard says that the reflective or “high-vis” jacket he wore was instrumental in locating the 78-year-old farmer, who became stuck in deep mud in a field near Quin, Co Clare, earlier this week.
The helicopter search began shortly after 11pm when the farmer failed to return from feeding animals.
Garda patrol units working with the Irish Coast Guard Killaloe unit and Clare Civil Defence helped to narrow down the search area for the Shannon-based Sikorsky helicopter.
Winch operator Jim O’Neill, who was working with pilot Derek Nequest, co-pilot Michael Hennelly and winchman Colm Hillery, said that northeasterly winds of 50 knots and driving rain made conditions very difficult for both the farmer and the combined search effort.
The farmer was spotted with the helicopter’s “night-sun” light and its heat-seeking FLIR camera.
So entrenched was he in the mud that a winch was required to pull him out before he was airlifted on to the helicopter and flown to Limerick Regional Hospital.
The farmer was hypothermic, but had survived his ordeal well considering the conditions, according to the helicopter crew.
The rescue brought to 509 the number of missions flown by the Irish Coast Guard’s helicopter rescue bases last year – breaking all previous records for the four bases at Shannon, Dublin, Sligo and Waterford.