ONE OF the country’s busiest Coast Guard units responded to three serious incidents in an hour yesterday which have left two men and a woman in hospital.
In the first incident, at about 10.20am, a Polish man had a lucky escape when he narrowly avoided landing in the sea after he fell while fishing near Gleninagh in north Clare.
The 30-year-old, who lives in Co Galway, was angling at a popular fishing location close to Blackhead Lighthouse, when he fell from rocks and broke his leg.
The alarm was raised when the Irish Coast Guard Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Valentia Island in Co Kerry received an emergency call from another angler. The Doolin unit of the Irish Coast Guard was scrambled to assist the man while an ambulance from Ennistymon was also sent to the scene. The man was taken to the Galway University Hospital.
While returning to their base at Doolin, rescuers were alerted to an incident in nearby Lisdoonvarna where a man sustained injuries in a fall on a roadway. The 31-year-old was taken to Ennis General Hospital.
In a third incident at about 11.20am, close to the Coast Guard station at Doolin, a 67-year-old woman was seriously injured after she was thrown from a horse. The woman was riding along the road from Doolin towards Doonagore Castle when the incident occurred. Coast Guard personnel rushed to the scene and immobilised the woman until an ambulance arrived. She was taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick with injuries described as serious but not life-threatening.