A lone fisherman was rescued this afternoon after his vessel suffered engine problems and was left drifting close to cliffs in West Clare.
The alarm was raised at around 11.45 this morning when a 30ft fishing boat was reported to be in difficulty in Kilbaha Bay.
The Irish Coast Guard was alerted to the incident and issued a radio message to other vessels in the area to assist if they were in a position to do so.
In the meantime, the Kilrush RNLI lifeboat was tasked to the incident while the Kilkee unit of the Irish Coast Guard was also alerted and sent a team and rescue boat by road to Kilbaha.
As the Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter, Rescue 115, was unavailable at the time, Rescue 117 located at Waterford Airport requested to assist.
One of two fishing vessels that responded to the Coast Guard radio call for assistance located the casualty vessel and managed to tow it to safety.
On arrival at the scene the crew of the RNLI lifeboat from Kilrush then took the vessel on tow into the safety of Kilbaha. Once the vessel had been towed to safety, Rescue 117 was stood down.
The operation was coordinated by watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine sub centre on Valentia Island in Kerry.
