TWO people in need of rescue when their fishing boat engine failed on Lough Derg signalled their position to rescuers using torches as night had fallen.
At 9.30pm on Thursday evening, August 26, Lough Derg RNLI who were out on exercise were requested by Valencia Coast Guard to assist the occupants of a 12 foot fishing boat just off the Goat Road, on the eastern shore of Lough Derg.
The lifeboat with helm Eleanor Hooker, crew Doireann Kennedy, Tom Hayes and Ciara Lynch on board, immediately diverted from their exercise in Dromineer Bay to assist.
The RNLI crew plotted a course to the Goat Road and monitored the fast moving vessels operating in the area on radar. Valentia Coast Guard informed the lifeboat that they had requested the casualties to uses lights to signal their location as the lifeboat approached.
At 9.49pm as the lifeboat approached the Goat Road, the people on the casualty vessel indicated their position using torches.
The casualty vessel was floating close to a rocky shore south of the Goat Road. With a RNLI volunteer crew taking soundings off the bow and another monitoring the electronic charts, the lifeboat made a cautious approach to the vessel. Once alongside the lifeboat found both people on board safe and unharmed and wearing their lifejackets. They reported that their boat had glanced off a rock and suffered engine failure.
Given the hour and the drop in temperature, the helm decided that the safest option was to set up an alongside tow and take the vessel with her passengers to Dromineer, the safest close harbour. Without sufficient warm clothing, the two people took shelter in the forward cabin of their boat. At 11.18pm the vessel was safely tied alongside in Dromineer. At 11.27pm lifeboat departed the scene and was back at Station at 11.30pm.
Peter Kennedy, Deputy Launching Authority at Lough Derg RNLI, advises water users to “study your charts and be prepared; anticipate a drop in temperature with nightfall.”