Volunteers save trapped sailors from burning boat

The sound of pagers rang out around Dún Laoghaire on the afternoon of Saturday 18 April – volunteers from the town’s lifeboat crew were needed urgently.

Plumes of thick smoke could be seen visible from the shore as an 11m boat caught fire in Dublin Bay. The Dún Laoghaire crew launched their inshore and all-weather lifeboats and were on the scene just after 4pm. Footage captured of the incident shows the all-weather Trent class approaching, with the burning boat in the distance:

The volunteers of the smaller D class lifeboat approached and took all four crew members aboard. It was a vital intervention – the motorboat was engulfed in flames just 5 minutes later. 

After checking over the rescued crew members, the Dún Laoghaire inshore lifeboat volunteers returned their station, where the casualties were passed into the care of waiting paramedics. 

Helm Paul Cummins said: 'The skipper on the boat had acted responsibly and followed correct safety procedures, prioritising the safety of his passengers in this difficult situation. Without his quick action, today could have taken a very different turn.' 

Burning and drifting towards a tanker 

The RNLI volunteers had also alerted the Coast Guard that the burning vessel was drifting towards an anchored tanker. The tanker weighed anchor and moved clear from the path of the drifting motorboat. 

Crew members aboard Dún Laoghaire’s other lifeboat – an all-weather Trent class - monitored the condition and location of the floating burning vessel until the arrival of a tugboat with firefighting capabilities from Dublin Port arrived.