An unpublished Irish Coast Guard report reveals that four volunteers struggled with their safety equipment after a rescue RIB capsized off Inch beach, Co Kerry almost nine years ago.
As The Sunday Independent reports, one crewman on the Dingle Irish Coast Guard RIB who did manage to inflate his lifejacket when thrown into the water found himself “gasping for air”.
He had to “prize the bladders of the lifejacket apart to breath” before he believes he “may have lost consciousness”, the internal report for the Irish Coast Guard says.
The RIB was trying to assist surfers when it capsized on August 25th, 2014, off Inch beach.
All four Dingle Coast Guard volunteers were in the water for about ten minutes, with three making it ashore, and all were airlifted to Tralee General Hospital by the Shannon-based Rescue 115 helicopter.
The newspaper reports that the Maritime SAR Services Ltd analysis for the Irish Coast Guard on the Dingle incident is central to the subsequent investigation into the death of Irish Coast Guard volunteer Caitriona Lucas.
As with the RIB on which Ms Lucas was a crew member on September 12th, 2016, the Dingle RIB on August 25th, 2014 was operating in a “surf zone” – contrary to Irish Coast Guard policy - where the vessel was exposed to, and caught by, breaking waves.
There were problems with safety equipment and with communication in both cases.
However, the 2014 incident was not investigated by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB), and the findings of the Irish Coast Guard’s internal report were not widely circulated to its volunteers around the coast.
This factor was highlighted by the MCIB in its inquiry into Ms Lucas’s death.
It has also been raised by maritime lawyer Michael Kingston, who is representing the Lucas family at the resumed preliminary inquest into Ms Lucas’s death which is due to sit in Kilmallock court, Co Limerick on Monday (June 12).
Read The Sunday Independent report here