The Galway Bay inshore lifeboat was called into action at around 4.30pm on Sunday when the three men failed to arrive in their destination, New Quay in Co Clare. They were found, hypothermic and in some distress after two hours in the water, after a search of the southern portion of Galway Bay.
Two of the men were slipping out of consciousness and had to be removed to the ambulance by stretcher for the journey to University College Hospital in Galway. The lifeboat crew administered first aid and oxygen to the men.
It is thought they fell out of their RIB, which was later recovered by fishermen. It is not known if any of the three was wearing a kill cord when they fell overboard.
The next day, the Dun Laoghaire lifeboat Anna Livia responded to a call from a lone RIB driver in distress off Dollymount Strand in Dublin Bay. The man contacted the Irish Coast Guard by mobile phone when he became disoriented in dense fog that had reduced visibility to less than 100 metres.
The RIB driver gave GPS coordinates, and after half an hour was guided to the North Bull Wall where he met the lifeboat, which escorted him back to Dun Laoghaire.
Unable to navigate without any visual references or navigational aids, the man was extremely lucky not to stray into the nearby shipping lanes.
Stephen Wynne, operations manager with the Dun Laoghaire lifeboat said that all small craft users should be fully prepared before setting out on the water "A compass and working Marine VHF radio are essential items of equipment for small craft and so too is checking the weather forecast to enable proper preparation for conditions on the day," he said.
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