Man airlifted in one of four incidents attended by Coast Guard
A man has been airlifted to hospital after he fell overboard from a boat in Co Clare this afternoon.
The incident was one of four the Irish Coast Guard responded to in Co Clare and South Galway today.
At around 4pm, emergency services were alerted to an incident in Kilkee where a man was reported to have fallen from a boat.
It is understood the man was a crew member on board a dive boat when he fell into the water. It’s not clear whether he suffered his back injury on board the RIB (rigid inflatable boat) or if he was injured when he fell into the sea.
The man was unable to get back into the boat because of his injury, so the alarm was raised.
The Kilkee unit of the Irish Coast Guard was alerted and requested to respond while colleagues from Doolin were also tasked to assist. The Shannon based search and rescue helicopter, Rescue 115, was also sent to the scene.
The helicopter’s paramedic was winched into the Kilkee rescue boat and transported a few hundred metres to the casualty. The helicopter landed in the local golf club while the injured man was assessed.
The casualty, who had been in the water for almost an hour, was placed on a spinal board before he was lifted on to the Kilkee Coast Guard boat.
He was transported to the slipway at Kilkee from where he was taken by road ambulance to meet the helicopter. He was then flown to University Hospital Galway for treatment.
Meanwhile, the Doolin unit of the Coast Guard responded to three other calls today.
They assisted the ambulance service recover an injured walker from a trail in the Burren National Park.
Volunteers were also requested to assist a kayaker who got into difficulty off Doolin. The man was safely on board a local passenger ferry and brought ashore.
The team also responded to a report of a wind surfer in trouble near Kinvara in South Galway. The man was safely brought ashore by a number of locals.
