Bangor RNLI in Northern Ireland responded along with several other emergency services on Saturday (24 January) after a person got into difficulty off Helen’s Bay.
The volunteer crew were requested to launch their inshore lifeboat at 12.55pm.
When the Ruby Robinson — helmed by James Gillespie and with crew members Michael McComb, Christine Beale and David Reid onboard — arrived on scene, they observed that a casualty had been recovered from the water and was in the care of a coastguard team.
It later emerged that a woman died and two other people were hospitalised following the incident at Helen’s Bay, as the Belfast Telegraph reports.
When the lifeboat crew arrived back at the station and the shore crew had washed the lifeboat and were making the it ready for its next service, a second request for help came at 1.03pm.
This time the coastguard requested the lifeboat return to Helen’s Bay for a crew to investigate the sighting of an object in the water off Grey Point.
The crew — including helm John Bell, Gareth Whan, Christine Beale and David Reid — launched the lifeboat to commence a search and on arrival discovered the object to be a lobster pot.
A third and similar call came at 2.34pm with the lifeboat crew requested to investigate a report of an object in the water at Whitehead.
The crew made their way across the lough in heavy and deteriorating weather but didn’t find anything suspicious.
Speaking following the call-outs, Bangor RNLI helm James Gillespie praised the efforts of all the various emergency services and members of the public who provided assistance.
“Our thoughts first and foremost are with the deceased’s family and friends at this difficult time,” he said. “We would also like to commend our colleagues who responded and particularly the coastguard team who were first on scene and worked tirelessly during the incident.
“Saturday’s back-to-back call outs also involved two false alarms with sightings of objects in the water. While nothing untoward was found in either of these searches, we would like to commend those who raised the alarm when they thought someone was in difficulty
“We would always much rather launch and find that all is well rather than not launch at all.”
