Busy time for Kilkee Coast Guard Unit

MARTONY Vaughan, area officer in charge of the Irish Coast Guard Kilkee Unit, has urged people who run into trouble in the waters off Kilkee or members of the public who witness an incident, to contact the coastguard and not the ambulance service.

 

He made his comments following a number of incidents in Kilkee last weekend. Five people had to be rescued from the water in three separate incidents, while a woman also sustained a broken ankle in the West End of the resort town.

“If people see anybody in difficulty or if people are in difficulty themselves at sea, they should dial 112 or 999 and ask for the coast guard. Asking for an ambulance only delays the process. If they ask for us first we’ll put everything else into play. What we’ve discovered, since I took over, is that ambulances, that are two hours from Limerick, are being tied up leaving no cover for anything else. We can take care of it and deal with it,” Mr Vaughan explained.

“There was a woman last Friday with a broken ankle at the Diamond Rocks. That was the first incident we had last week. We had five calls in four days. There was an ambulance tied up with her for an hour. It could have been tied up for over two hours but for we called a helicopter and she was in Limerick in 15 minutes,” he added.

The following day a teenager was also removed to hospital by the Irish Coast Guard helicopter, which is based in Shannon.

“We had a 14-year-old young lad on Saturday that dived off one of the diving spots on the other side of the bay. He hurt his head and we flew him straight to Limerick in the helicopter from the golf club. So there was no other resources tied up here. Whether it’s in the air or sitting in Shannon, it costs the same thing to get it here. It won’t be unnecessarily tasked but we’ll use it,” Mr Vaughan said of the rescue helicopter.

Last Sunday afternoon, three people were rescued from a 16ft fibre glass boat near the Diamond Rocks area of the bay. No injuries were sustained.

“They were towed back to the pier in Kilkee. Everybody was checked out and they were all fine,” the officer-in charge said.

In another incident on the same afternoon, a 14-year-old boy was rescued by Kilkee Coast Guard off the Diamond Rocks.

“He was in open water and he couldn’t get back in. Members of the public, who were observing him, telephoned 999. We were tasked by the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Valentia,” Mr Vaughan said. The boy did not sustain serious injuries.

A total of 67 rescues were carried out in Clare in July alone this year, while 52 children were temporarily lost at various resorts and beaches. These figures were released by Irish Water Safety last week.