#RNLI - Clifden RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat launched just after midnight on Monday (30 July) to reports of a flashing light spotted off the Connemara coast.
The bright flashing lights had been seen from the shore north-west of the Aughris peninsula, and the Cleggan Coast Guard requested the RNLI to launch to investigate. It was a low tide at the time of launch with a Force 5-6 wind blowing.
On arrival at the scene, the RNLI crew saw that the light was coming from a cardinal marker buoy navigational aid which had become detached from its original location and was now adrift.
Once they informed the coastguard, the volunteer crew comprising coxswain John Mullen, David O’Reilly, Ian Shanahan, Robert King, Thomas Davis and Owen Hayes returned to Clifden at around 3am.
Speaking following the callout, lifeboat navigator Hayes said: “This was a large south-west cardinal marker and once we determined the cause of the lights seen from shore we informed the coastguard, who then recorded it as a navigational hazard for other seagoing vessels.”