RTÉ News reports that a 12-year-old girl was hospitalised after an incident on the River Shannon in Limerick city yesterday morning (Saturday 23 February).
It’s understood that she was one of four girls on a boat that overturned in the river near the Old Salmon Weir.
The casualty became trapped underneath as her hair tangled with the boat’s outriggers, according to BreakingNews.ie.
An eyewitness said the girls’ rowing boat was in a fast current and had broken in two.
“I’m haunted all day. It’s the screams. I can still hear the girls screaming, ‘help, help help’,” said local man Danny Ryan, who rang 999 as he watched the scene unfold.
The casualty was freed from the boat by a team of firefighters trained in river rescue who were alerted while on patrol at the time.
Elsewhere, the Irish Coast Guard were involved in a ‘difficult’ rescue of two people from Poll na Péist on Inis Mór in the Aran Islands, which previously hosted the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.
