#RNLI - Both Wicklow RNLI lifeboats launched at 11.30am yesterday morning (Tuesday 18 August) after the Irish Coast Guard received a report of a swimmer in difficulties at the Long Rock near Silver Strand beach.
The inshore lifeboat was quickly on scene and located a female swimmer unable to get ashore. Visibility was good and sea state was slight, with a south-easterly Force 3 wind.
The woman had been swimming with her husband and two children at the beach, but got separated from the group and carried further offshore by rip tides.
She was eventually able to scramble close enough to rocks, enabling some quick-thinking people on the beach to throw a rope out for her to hold until the lifeboat arrived. However, she was unable to get to safety due to the sheer angle of the rocks and exhaustion.
The inshore crew took the woman from the water and administered first aid. During the assessment on the way back to Wicklow, she was showing signs hypothermia and shock.
A short time after the lifeboats returned to Wicklow, coastguard helicopter Rescue 116 arrived overhead. The winch man was hoisted onto the East Pier to render medical assistance to the swimmer at the lifeboat station before the casualty was airlifted to Tallaght Hospital.