Arklow RNLI launched twice over the weekend (Oct 6&7) following launch requests from the Irish Coastguard and alerts from members of the public and Gardai.
The first launch on Saturday at 1.25 pm was to a yacht which had gotten into difficulty and was without power , the vessel was about 1 mile east of Arklow harbour with 3 persons aboard, The vessel and its crew of 3 sailors were towed safely back to Arklow.
The second launch was very early Sunday morning, at approximately 2.30am the volunteer crew were once again requested to launch to a report of a person in the water in the harbour at Arklow, thanks to witnesses on scene who saw the person enter the water, the local Gardai, Coast Guard and Arklow RNLI were immediately alerted.
The lifeboat was launched and proceeded to the location near the river entrance, where the members of the public and local Gardai had located the person in the water and managed to engage with the casualty, and throw a lifebelt in efforts to keep the casualty afloat, till the lifeboat arrived on scene minutes later.
Once on scene, the crew managed to get the casualty aboard the lifeboat and administered casualty care while quickly returning to the lifeboat station, the casualty was then taken to hospital by ambulance.
Following the incident, Mark Corcoran Community Safety Officer at Arklow RNLI said:
“We would like to extend huge thanks to the members of the public who alerted the Coast Guard and the local Gardai to this incident, without this early Call for Help and assistance during the rescue, this incident could have ended very differently, I’d like to remind people once again, Please Respect the Water and always wear a lifejacket and carry a means of calling for help when going out on or near the water”
Further Water Safety Information can be found at www.respectthewater.com
