This article is from page 9 of the 2007-11-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
A 24-YEAR-OLD Dublin woman, who was trapped on a ledge at the bottom of a 20-metre ravine for al- most six hours, was airlifted to hos- pital while five others had also to be rescued when a Saturday afternoon canyoning expedition in Clare al- most turned to tragedy.
The group of eight, from Dublin and Cork, had been canyoning along the bank of the Aille River near Doo- lin when one woman missed her step and fell several feet onto a ledge be- low. Two other members of the group risked their lives by floating along the river to a location where they
could safely reach a road and raise the alarm.
The group had set out at llam on Saturday to brave a three-kilometre stretch of the river in the townland of Ballysallagh when the incident oc- curred.
Canyoning is an adventure sport which involves walking, scrambling, climbing, abseiling and/or swim- eaneetee
The Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter was scrambled to the scene. The chopper landed in a near- by field as members of Doolin Coast Guard were lowered on to the ledge to recover the casualty and her five friends.