This article is from page 6 of the 2013-12-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
A LARGE search involving dozens of members of the Killaloe Unit of the Irish Coast Guard, the RNLI and members of the Gardaí too place in Scariff, last Friday evening.
The emergency services were tasked to locate a missing male in the Scariff area late on Friday evening. A combined land and water search was undertaken, with a large number of emergency responders focusing their efforts on the area around Scariff Bay.
The water searched was aided by the Irish Coast Guard Helicopter from Shannon, and the Killaloe Ballina Search and Recovery Dive Unit. The missing person turned up distraught but safe after the three hour search.
“On Friday night we responded to a report of a missing person in the Scariff area. It was an extensive search of a relatively small area as the search teams had to focus on both a land and sea search,” said Joe Doolin of the Killaloe Unit of the Irish Coast Guard.
“After a search of about two and a half hours the person was located safe and well. He did not require any major medical attention.”
The Killaloe Unit of the Irish Coast Guard has had one of its most busy years on record so far in 2013. With a month of this year still to go, the unit has already logged more than 229 operational hours so far in 2013 – an increase of 179 per cent on the number of hours of active service in 2012.
The number of incidents responded to has also increased to 39, this represents a 26 per cent year on year increase, while the unit has given aid to 59 individuals – a 52 per cent increase on 2012.
In June of this year the unit undertook one of its largest ever mass rescues when a regatta on Lough Derg descended into chaos following a suddenly deterioration in the weather.
The unit brought more than 40 people ashore in an hour with many of them being treated for hypothermia.