#RNLI - At 8.38am this morning (Saturday September 26), the Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat was requested to launch by Valentia Coast Guard to assist four people on board a 32ft cruiser that had run aground just outside the Urra Channel markers at nightfall the previous evening.
At 8.58am, the lifeboat launched with helm Ger Egan, Eleanor Hooker, and Keith Brennan on board. Winds were southerly Force 1-2, visibility was fair with a low mist and rising fog.
The lifeboat located the cruiser on a rocky shelf just outside the green navigation mark at the Urra Channel. The four adults on board were safe and unharmed. They were requested to put on their lifejackets.
One of passengers was quite anxious, and was reassured by an RNLI volunteer who had transferred across to the casualty vessel.
The skipper informed the lifeboat that despite their best efforts to navigate through the channel, they had missed the mark in the dark and run aground. They had remained there all night, dropping anchor incase there was a change in weather overnight.
The RNLI crew checked under the floorboards and established that the boat was not taking on water and, after the anchor was recovered, prepared a tow.
After two unsuccessful attempts to get the cruiser off the rocks, three of the people aboard the casualty vessel were taken on to the lifeboat and transferred to the Lough Derg RNLI Lifeboat Station at Dromineer.
With the skipper and an RNLI crew member still on board, a further attempt to get the boat off the rocks proved unsuccessful.
The skipper was requested to gather his belongings and was taken to the lifeboat station where lifeboat operations manager Liam Maloney and deputy launching authority Brian Hanly were making arrangements to help the four people.
Handy advises boat users "not to delay and call 999 or 112 and ask for marine rescue if you find yourself in difficulty on the lake."
The lifeboat returned to station and was ready for service again at 10.20am.
