Two sailors are recovering after their yacht washed ashore on Achill Island and was beached for three days before the alarm was raised, as RTÉ News reports.
The 50-foot boat is understood to have got into difficulty amid stormy conditions in the Atlantic in the middle of last week and washed ashore near Dooega Head on the Co Mayo island after capsizing.
But it was a further three days, on Friday (11 November), when one of the two crew climbed up the cliff to seek help.
The other crew member was rescued by the Irish Coast Guard’s Sligo-based helicopter Rescue 118 and airlifted to hospital.
According to the Irish Examiner, the two sailors say they were en route from the Caribbean to Ibiza before the incident.
But it’s also emerged that neither sailor was carrying identifying documents, and that the boat had no navigation equipment, distress signal nor food or water on board.