Tourist helps save man during dramatic Cork city river rescue
A Canadian tourist helped save a man from drowning during a dramatic river rescue in the centre of Cork city last night.
The alarm was raised at 7.28pm when a man entered the river at St Patrick's Quay, opposite Merchant's Quay shopping centre.
Investigations were still underway on Thursday night to establish how he man came to be in the water.
The female tourist, who was passing with a friend, saw the man in the water and dived in to help. She was joined in the water seconds later by a uniformed garda.
Five units of Cork City Fire Brigade rushed to the scene and realised they had to recover three people from the water.
Third officer Gerry Myers said they deployed an inflatable raft and a rescue basket and had the gear and three swift water rescue technicians in the water within three minutes of getting the call.
The specially trained firefighters recovered the woman and the garda first, before retrieving the casualty to the quay side.
The man then went into cardiac arrest but thanks to the swift action of fire fighters and National Ambulance Service paramedics, he was revived at the scene.
He was taken to the Mercy University Hospital where his
condition was described as serious but stable.
The garda and the tourist were in shock, but unhurt.
Mr Myers said he was very proud of the crew who were involved in the rescue.
