A Spanish fisherman is recovering in hospital after he was airlifted from a trawler off the Clare coast early yesterday.
The alarm was raised shortly after 6am when the skipper of the Spanish fishing vessel contacted the Irish Coast Guard station at Valentia Island in Co Kerry.
The captain reported that a member of his crew had suffered a serious foot injury which required urgent medical attention.
The Shannon-based Coast Guard rescue helicopter lifted off shortly after 7am and headed to rendezvous with the trawler which at the time was 70 nautical miles (130km) west of Loop Head.
The helicopter reached the trawler at about 8.15am.
The fisherman was then given emergency first aid on the deck before being airlifted back to Shannon airport at 9.20am.
He was then handed over to ambulance paramedics who took him to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick.