Angler rescued from foot of cliff by Irish Coast Guard

A sea angler is recovering after being plucked to safety by members of the Irish Coast Guard who descended a 100ft-plus cliff face to rescue him from a ledge above a rising tide in Dursey Sound in West Cork over the weekend.

The angler, a Polish man, had been fishing with two others on Sunday afternoon near the tip of the Beara Peninsula when he was swept off rocks by a wave into Dursey Sound.

He managed to make his way to a rocky ledge just above the sea but at the foot of 100ft plus cliffs.

Castletownbere RNLI All Weather Lifeboat, the Annette Hutton, was tasked to rescue the man, but according to second cox Paul Stevens it was deemed too dangerous to try to launch its inflatable Y-boat due to the dangerous 3m-4m swell at the foot of the cliffs.

Rotor downdraft

Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 115 from Shannon also attended, but it was feared the downdraft from the rotors might blow the casualty off the ledge if a winchman was lowered to try to rescue him.

Instead, members of the Irish Coast Guard Castletownbere Cliff and Coastal Unit lowered one of its members down the cliff face.

He managed to reach the casualty and brought him to safety with the assistance of colleagues on the clifftop.

The rescue was completed just as a rising tide was started to lap around the man’s ankles and he was taken by Rescue 115 to Tralee General Hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia before being later discharged.