Children rescued from Rine Island

FOUR children were rescued from an island off the North Clare coast on Sunday in a major operation involving Galway RNLI Lifeboat and the Irish Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter.

The four children, a 10-year-old and three teenagers, became stranded on Rine Island near Ballyvaghan during the rising tide shortly after 4pm. The children’s father managed to swim ashore and raise the alarm and within minutes, the Irish Coast Guard tasked Galway RNLI Lifeboat to the scene.

The rescue helicopter was first to arrive at the scene and a crewman was lowered to the island until Galway Lifeboat arrived some minutes later.

Rine Island is connected to the coast by a strip of land during low tide. Two of the lifeboat crew waded onto the island and transferred the casualties to the lifeboat where they were brought ashore to the quay in Ballyvaghan.

Gardaí were at the scene with the father who is understood not to be from the area. Galway RNLI Lifeboat operations manager, Mike Swan, said as soon as the call came in, it was evident the emergency services were in a race against the incoming tide. “Both services (lifeboat and coast guard) pulled out all the stops and were on the scene within minutes to divert what could have been a tragedy.”

Elsewhere, a Czech woman, who is believed to have sustained a head injury at her house near Kilrush, was airlifted to hospital in Cork last Sunday evening.

The Shannon-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter took off from Kilrush Shamrocks GAA field. Paramedics responded to the incident and after assessing the injured woman, sought the services of the coast guard to bring the injured woman to Cork.