Lifeboat crew assisted six stranded people over weekend

The Lough Ree RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew was tasked to assist six people on board two cruisers which ran aground on the lake in the past week.

On Saturday morning last, September 16^th, Lough Ree RNLI crew went to the assistance of two people on board a 40ft cruiser stranded on rocks near Nun’s Island.

Launched just after 9 am under helm Kieran Sloyan, the charity’s lifeboat ‘Tara Scougall’ and its volunteer crew responded to a call for assistance. The two people were taken from the stranded boat and transferred to the Lakeside Marina on the Westmeath shore.

The boat had been the focus of a call-out the previous evening – Friday, September 15^th – when Lough Ree RNLI had been tasked by the Irish Coast Guard to go to the aid of the stricken boat with two people on board near Nun’s Island.

The Lough Ree RNLI volunteer crew, under helm Stuart McMicken, reached the scene near Marker Three at 7.40 pm. On inspection, the crew found the 40ft cruiser hard aground on rocks near Nun’s Island. The volunteer crew spent more than ninety minutes in a vain attempt to remove the craft from where it came to rest. The two people on board, who were in good health and had sufficient provisions and fully charged communications equipment, decided to remain on board for the night.

With no improvement in the situation overnight, the two people advised Lough Ree RNLI on Saturday morning, September 16^th, that they wished to be taken off the cruiser. The transfer was successfully completed by 10 am.

Earlier last week, at lunchtime on Thursday, September 14^th, Lough Ree RNLI was tasked by the Irish Coast Guard to go to the assistance of a cruiser with four people on board which had run aground on the Hexagon Shoal in the south of the lake.

Launched under helm Liam Sheringham, the charity’s lifeboat ‘Tara Scougall’ with a volunteer crew reached the stricken boat at 1.40 pm. Following an initial inspection, the crew found all four people on board wearing life jackets and uninjured. The boat was towed from the rocks to safe water and continued north under its own power.