The incident occurred on Lough Derg close to the Clare shore at around 4.30pm. The Irish Coast Guard launched a search and rescue operation after receiving a report that a speedboat was in difficulty off Parkers Point south of the Scilly Islands.
Watch officers at the Coast Guard’s marine rescue sub centre on Valentia Island in Kerry initiated the emergency response and broadcast a message on the marine VHF radio channels requesting any vessels in the area to assist if they were in a position to do so.
Lough Derg RNLI and the Killaloe unit of the Irish Coast Guard were requested to launch their boats and proceed to the area.
Rescue 115
The Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter, Rescue 115, was diverted from another mission and also asked to assist.
Soon after arriving on scene, the crew of Rescue 115 located the vessel and remained on scene until the RNLI and Coast Guard rescue boats arrived at the location. Conditions on the lake at the time were reported to be choppy resulting in water getting into the boat.
The Killaloe Coast Guard took the vessel on tow however when some of the people complained of feeling cold, all four were evacuated onto the rescue boat. The speedboat’s anchor was dropped and left at the scene while the people were taken ashore at Twomilegate where they were met and assessed by National Ambulance Service.
The Killaloe Coast Guard later returned to the vessel with equipment for pumping water from the boat.
