A busy week of callouts for Co Wexford’s Cahore Inshore Rescue Service began on Tuesday (8 September) with the rescue of a father and son who got into difficulty on an inflatable toy off Cahore Pier.
As the Irish Mirror reports, the rescue team — helm Donal McGrath and crew Brenda Kavanagh and Sean Doyle — located the pair at a buoy to which they’d managed to tie their inflatable raft after it began drifting out to sea.
The man and boy were then were transferred to the lifeboat and brought safely back to shore.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Water Safety Ireland is calling on parents and families to dispose of their inflatable toys which have been described as “inflatable killers”.
The following day, Wednesday 9 September, the rescue service was tasked to assist a suspected kitesurfer in difficulty off Knocknasillogue Beach.
Helmsman Dave Kavanagh launched with crew members Noel Ward and Ron Wynne, and the team were assisted by the Waterford-based Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 117 with smoke flares.
Together they soon located the suspected casualty which turned out to be a false alarm.
Rescue 117 then received another call to assist a swimmer in difficulty off Curracloe Beach. Cahore’s rescue team followed to wait on standby but again it was a false alarm.
Following these callouts, the rescue service said: “We are grateful to be here to help and urge people to call 112 or 999, even if they are unsure of what they see. It's better that we attend the scene to assess it, than be in any doubt.”
Cahore Inshore Rescue Service has just beaten its summer fundraising target but all donations are vital to keeping the community rescue service running, especially with the impact of coronavirus this year.
