A NUMBER of people who were involved in dramatic near-drowning rescue incidents, several of them at Clare beaches, were honoured at the Irish Water Safety National Awards in Dublin on Tuesday.
Athenry man Thomas Thompson was involved in saving two little girls who were swept out to sea at Spanish Point on September 25.
“We had been out surfing and we were after coming back in and were getting changed,” says Thomas of the day of the rescue. “Then we heard the girls’ mother in distress and we went down to see what was happening. We found out they’d been dragged into the water. I went out on the surfboard and thankfully I found them, they were gone about 150 metres.”
Emily Luff was one of the girls rescued that day and after being swept out to sea she kept a grip of her younger sister Isobel, something that probably saved her life. As a reward, Emily was presented with a SEIKO Certificate of Courage award. Peter Bradbury assisted Thomas on the day and he received a Rescue Appreciation Award.
Norman Cleary and Mark Flynn both won awards for their role in rescuing four swimmers who were carried out by a rip current at Spanish Point on July 30.
Norman, who is from Clarecastle, recalled the rescue. “I was working as a lifeguard and I’d just finished up duty, it was about five past seven. I spotted a swimmer had been carried out to sea and I ran down with a life saving can buoy. There was lots of screaming and shouting and I came on Mark Flynn, who had been surfing, and he had an exhausted swimmer at the edge of his board.
“The swimmer was completely exhausted and I helped paddle him in. When we were coming in a guy told us that someone else was in trouble. I went back out and we came on another swimmer who was on a board with surfers about 30 metres out from the shore. The surfer asked if I’d bring him in so I gave him the can buoy and brought him back into the sand.”
Another award recipient was Colm Quish of Limerick. The teenager was surfing with friends at Lahinch in June when he came upon a swimmer in distress after being caught in a rip current. Colm went to his assistance and swam with him back to the shore. Once there, Colm placed him in the recovery position, kept him warm with towels and stayed with him until the emergency services arrived.