‘ You never know how call will go’
THE tragic death last week of 41- year old mother- of- two Catriona Lucas, a Coast Guard volunteer during a rescue mission off Clare, sent shockwaves across the country.
It showed how volunteers from the Coast Guard and the RNLI put their lives at risk every time a call comes in.
“You don’t expect the rescuers to need rescuing but unfortunately these tragedies can happen,” said Shane Smyth a RNLI volunteer based.
He said it was extremely sad to hear of Catriona’s death after the boat she was in capsized in heavy swells during a rescue near Kilkee. “It was really sad to hear, it shows that no one is invincible. The RNLI and the Coast Guard are two separate bodies and both of us have the very best when it comes to personal equipment, such as gear, helmets, life jackets, all of that. But unfortunately what happened in Clare shows that sometimes things can go badly wrong,” Shane pointed out.
He added volunteers from the Coast Guard and the RNLI are given training to an extremely high standard.
“Everyone is trained to the best of their ability, in the RNLI we are trained locally and also over in Poole, Dorset, where people undergo submersion in tanks to train for procedures such as the likes of boats capsizing.”
Shane said that tragedy does unfortunately strike as volunteers can get into difficulty during rescue missions.
“You don’t expect the rescuers needing rescuing but it unfortunately can happen.
“Volunteers risk their lives every time a call comes through.
“You never know what is going to happen when a call comes in or how long you are going to be out there or the situation you are going to be in until you get out there on the water.
“You just don’t know and most of the time the information that comes through regarding a call out is very brief. “Volunteers go out on these missions and don’t know what they are getting into,” he added. RNLI volunteers come from all walks of life and hold down various jobs. “We have teachers, HSE personnel, business people, surf school instructors and people in the tourism industry like myself. “Hearing about the tragedy in Clare was devastating news, really, really sad for everyone,” Shane said. He’s been involved with the RNLI for six years and there’s 30 crew based in Bundoran, which regularly link up with Sligo RNLI which is stationed in Rosses Point. “We link up regularly with Sligo RNLI to do joint exercises, we cover the Mullaghmore area too and both crews were involved in the recent search for a missing soldier at Bundoran. “All the boat crew are trained so that someone from Sligo can come and step into our boat if needed.” Shane said this summer hasn’t been overly busy in terms of calls, and that’s good as it means less people are getting into trouble. They also rely on public donations.“The RNLI across Ireland and the UK is holding a fundraiser at the moment to encourage people to give up fizzy drinks, coffee, tea, whatever they’re on and instead stick to water for ten days. “The money they’re saving then is being donated to us. It’s called the H2Only campaign and we’re asking anyone to throw the two or three euro they spend on coffee or whatever each day into a jar and give it to us after the ten days. “They can get sponsored either or do it on their own. “Every euro counts for the RNLI as we are not Government funded and all the money that comes to us is from generous donations, which are vital,” Shane added. See www. irishlifeboats. com