Good weather over the past few days kept the Galway and Aran lifeboat crews busy this week.
The Aran Islands life boat performed a medical evacuation from Inis Oírr on Monday, and a separate medical evacuation on Tuesday from Inis Mór.
The Galway RNLI crew was tasked to an upriver incident which was dealt with by Galway Fire & Rescue over the weekend, while their services were called on to tow a small pleasure craft which had lost propulsion back to Renvyle on Tuesday.
No casualties were reported by Galway RNLI volunteers.
An injured cyclist on Inis Oírr was transferred to a waiting ambulance crew in Ros a Mhíl on Monday with the assistance of the island’s doctor on foot of a request from the Coast Guard. The casualty was “walking wounded” and able to board the Aran lifeboat unassisted for the short passage in calm conditions.
The following day, the islands’ all-weather lifeboat was scrambled late afternoon for another medical emergency to transfer a sick patient from Inis Mór to the mainland. This was a more complex stretcher transfer and was done in calm conditions with the assistance of Aran Fire and Rescue Service.
Speaking following the call-outs, Aran coxswain Aonghus Ó hIarnáin said he wished both casualties speedy recoveries, and thanked all who helped. He added: “This is what we do. On the mainland you can call an ambulance, but living on an island there is that extra step in an emergency."
