THE IRISH Coast Guard has appealed to the public to stay away from exposed coasts, cliffs, piers,
beaches and swollen inland waterways, following a series of air-sea rescues over the weekend.
A windsurfer's body was recovered by the Irish Coast Guard's Shannon helicopter off Kerry on
Saturday. Three Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboat crew members were rescued off
the Wexford coast yesterday by the coast guard's Waterford helicopter and Rosslare lifeboat.
Two medical evacuations also took place off the west coast, along with several searches for missing
people reported off the south coast.
The windsurfer, said to be a man in his 40s, was reported missing off Banna strand, Co Kerry, on Saturday. After a search for almost three hours by the Irish Coast Guard, his body was found and taken to Tralee General Hospital.
His name has not been released. The coast guard’s Shannon helicopter was also involved in a medical evacuation from Rock island lighthouse off the Aran islands. The helicopter winched a family from their flooded home near Kilbeacanty, south Galway, on Friday.
The coast guard’s Waterford helicopter flew an injured crewman on a cargo ship some 48km (30 miles) east of Wexford to hospital on Saturday. Yesterday morning, the Waterford air crew were involved in the rescue of three RNLI inshore lifeboat crew after their vessel capsized during a training session south of Raven’s Point in Wexford harbour.
The alert was raised when the crew set off emergency flares. Two crew members managed to
stay with the upturned lifeboat and were winched to safety The helicopter spent 90 minutes searching for the third crewman, who had become separated from the boat, but he was
then located by the Rosslare offshore lifeboat.
All three were said to be suffering from mild hypothermia and were taken to Waterford Regional
Hospital. RNLI deputy divisional inspector Gareth Morrison said the organisation was relieved that
the three men were safe and an investigation into the incident had begun.