Another busy day for our RNLI crews

IT WAS a busy day for the emergency services operating along the Northside coast on a recent weekend as various units were involved in separate incidents.

While out on routine training on the morning of September 27, helm Eoin Grimes and crew members Peter Kennedy and AJ Hughes on board the Skerries RNLI lifeboat were called into action.

The lifeboat was two miles north east of Skerries when they approached a yacht to ask the skipper for permission to train alongside a boat under sail.

However, the skipper of the yacht quickly informed them that a fishing boat nearby had suffered engine failure.

The fishing boat, which had four men on board, was taken under tow by the lifeboat and brought to the safety of Balbriggan Harbour, from where they had set out.

Conditions at the time were calm with a force one to two southerly wind.

Speaking after the call out, Gerry Canning, Lifeboat Press Officer for Skerries RNLI said: “We would urge anyone going to sea to ensure that have adequate safety equipment on board and a means of contacting the shore should they experience any difficulty.”

On the same day, the Irish Coast Guard Cliff Rescue unit in Howth attended two cliff calls within one hour of each other on Howth Head.

The first call for the team was at 4pm when a man going shore fishing slipped ten metres while descending to rocks at Balscadden. The Coast Guard arrived quickly and an EMT from the team administered medical care until the arrival of the paramedic from the Coast Guard helicopter.

 The fisherman’s colleague was taken by the Howth RNLI lifeboat to Howth Harbour.

The casualty who had serious head injuries was winched aboard the Coast Guard helicopter and taken to Beaumont Hospital.

A crew from Howth Coast Guard along with the assistance of local gardai secured the landing site and assisted with the transfer of the casualty to a waiting ambulance.

While some of the crew were assisting with the transfer, at 5pm a call came in of a tourist trapped 25 metres up a 40 metre cliff at Whitewater Brook near the Baily lighthouse.

As the team in Howth was closing down from the previous call at the station they were dispatched to the scene by the Coast Guard’s operations centre.

A rope cliff rescue was set up and a rescue climber got to the casualty who was a tourist that got confused on returning from a beach below and found himself unable to ascend or descend.

He was secured and brought to safety by the team and no further medical care was required.