Achill Island RNLI involved in medical evacuation of patient from Clare Island

ACHILL Island RNLI were involved in the medical evacuation of a patient from Clare Island at the weekend.

The volunteer lifeboat crew launched at 9.29 a.m. on Saturday under Coxswain Dave Curtis and with five crew members onboard. It followed a request from the Irish Coast Guard to assist with the evacuation of a patient from the island.

Sea conditions were flat calm at the time and the weather was overcast with some drizzle.

The all-weather lifeboat Sam and Ada Moody arrived at Clare Island at 9.51 a.m. Four crew members proceeed to go ashore and prepare a safe landing site for the Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 118 from Sligo, which was also tasked to the scene.

The lifeboat crew then assisted the island nurse and crew of Rescue 118 with transferring the patient to the aircraft before they were airlifted to hospital.

Speaking after the call-out, Coxswain Dave Curtis said: “We were happy to help and would like to wish the casualty well.

“We train regularly for situations like this and this call-out was a good example of a good inter-agency response from our own volunteers here in Achill and our colleagues in the Irish Coast Guard.”