Cork RNLI team comes to aid of injured navy crewman

Castletownbere RNLI crew were paged last night to go to the assistance of a crewman onboard the Irish Navy vessel L.E. George Bernard Shaw who had become injured during sea exercises off the coast of West Cork.

Just after 10pm, lifeboat volunteer crew were requested to launch by Valentia Coastguard Marine Coordination Centre to provide assistance to the man who was onboard the naval vessel which was at anchor at Lawrence Cove off Bere Island.

The lifeboat was launched within minutes under the command of Coxswain Dean Hegarty with crew David O’Donovan, Martin Cronin, Dave Fenton, Seamus Harrington, Marc O’Hare and Donagh Murphy.

Shortly after 10:20pm the lifeboat arrived on the scene.

The crewman was transferred by stretcher from the naval vessel to the lifeboat where he subsequently received casualty care. 

On arrival at Castletownbere RNLI Station at around 10:55pm, the injured man was met by paramedics from the National Ambulance Service and he subsequently received medical assessment and attention.

Commenting on the callout Castletownbere RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager, Paul Stevens, stated:

"Thankfully, this was a very straightforward call out and everything went very smoothly – we wish the injured crewman a full and speedy recovery."

Conditions during last night’s rescue operation were described as very calm.