Valentia RNLI’s volunteers spent 16 hours at sea last Wednesday (7 November) after they responded to a Mayday call to rescue 11 crew from a fishing trawler on fire.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the crew launched their all-weather lifeboat at 1.56am following a Mayday call from the crew of a 33m Spanish fishing vessel with a fire onboard some 40 miles northwest of Valentia.
The Irish Coast Guard’s Shannon-based helicopter Rescue 115 was also tasked other vessels that were in the area at the time also responded.
Launched under coxswain Richard Quigley, the lifeboat made its way to the scene, a journey that took an hour and 45 minutes. Conditions were dark with the early hours of morning. There was moderate to poor visibility, a Force 5 south-easterly wind and a 2m swell.
Arriving on scene, the crew assessed the situation andm observing the fire onboard, began to work with the trawler’s crew to extinguish the blaze.
The fire was soon brought under control but as the vessel was disabled, the lifeboat was requested to standby until the arrival of a tug to carry out a tow.
The Naval Service vessel LÉ James Joyce arrived on scene at 1.45pm to relieve the lifeboat and it returned to Valentia at around 6pm, after some 16 hours at sea.
It was the second call-out in 24 hours for the station’s crew who earlier on Tuesday (6 November) rescued a paddle boarder who got into difficulty.
The crew were requested by the Irish Coast Guard to launch their all-weather lifeboat at 1.29pm following a report of a paddle boarder drifting north of Cuas Crom Harbour. Weather conditions at the time were fair with a Force 5 wind and 1.5m swell.
Under coxswain Richard Quigley with five crew onboard, the lifeboat launched and made its way to the scene, where on arrival they located the casualty who was wearing a wetsuit but was very cold.
The crew proceeded to bring the casualty onboard the lifeboat where they carried out an assessment and administered casualty care as they made their way back to Cahirciveen marina. The paddle boarder was then passed into the care of Iveragh Coast Guard and the National Ambulance Service.
Speaking following the call-outs, Valentia RNLI lifeboat press officer Michelle Curran said: “We would encourage anyone planning a trip to sea to go prepared ensuring they have lifejackets or a suitable flotation device for their activity and carry a suitable means of communication should they get into difficulty.
“If you get into trouble or see someone else in difficulty, call 999 or 112 and ask for the coastguard.”
