Aran Islands RNLI in early hours call out to medically evacuate three people
Volunteers from Aran Islands RNLI had a call out in the early hours of this morning (Monday 24 May) to medically evacuate three people involved in an accident from Inis Mór.
The crew were requested to launch their all-weather Severn class lifeboat by the Irish Coast Guard at 3.50am. The Inis Mór Fire Service was also tasked.
Three casualties were transferred aboard the lifeboat at the pontoon at Kilronan Harbour. The transfer between the crew of the Inis Mór Fire Service and the lifeboat crew proved challenging due to poor weather conditions at the time with very heavy rain and a strong wind blowing.
Once the casualties were safely onboard, the lifeboat under Coxswain John O'Donnell and a full crew, proceeded in sea conditions that were described as choppy with a south westerly Force 6 wind blowing. There was a 2.5m sea swell and poor visibility due to the heavy rain.
Once at Rossaveal Harbour, the casualties were transferred by the lifeboat crew to the waiting ambulances.
Speaking after the call out, Aran Islands RNLI Coxswain John O'Donnell said: ‘This was a challenging call out for all involved this morning. The darkness of night and the poor weather conditions made the transfer difficult, but we are trained for situations like this and were glad to be able to help and we wish the casualties a speedy recovery.
‘Despite the early hours and the poor weather conditions, our volunteers answered their pagers this morning without hesitation or delay and I would like to commend them for that as well as thank our colleagues in the other emergency services with whom we worked with to bring the three people to safety.’
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