This article is from page 6 of the 2005-11-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
A LONE Clare fisherman, reported missing late last Wednesday night in Galway Bay, was found safe and well, stranded on an island, in the early hours of Thursday morning. The 43-year-old from New Quay in North Clare went fishing at 4pm on Wednesday afternoon and was due home at around nightfall. When
there was no sign, his wife raised the alarm and reported him overdue at around Ilpm. A major sea and air search was launched soon after- wards.
The Aran Islands and Galway Bay lifeboats, along with volunteers from the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard, rushed to the scene and began a water-based search in the area of New Quay. Shortly af-
terwards, the Shannon-based Irish Coastguard helicopter, which is equipped with specialist search and rescue thermal imaging technology, joined the search.
The man was located a short time later by the chopper crew as they carried out a low level sweep over Deer Island in Galway Bay, about two miles north of New Quay.
According to a Coastguard
spokesperson, “The helicopter crew spotted the man on Deer Island waving his hands in the air but for safety reasons did not immediately attempt to airlift him. It appears he got caught in some bad weather and sought shelter on the island”’.
The presence of large colonies of birds on the island prevented the chopper crew from immediately airlifting the man to safety. It was
feared that if disturbed, birds could fly into the chopper’s engines and scupper any rescue bid.
The pilot decided instead to await the arrival of a lifeboat which used spotlights to illuminate the area so that an airlift could safely take place.
The man was taken to safety short- ly before 2 am and was reported to be safe and well after his ordeal.