Injured paraglider rescued from Knockmealdowns
The South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association (SEMRA) were called to no less than three incidents last Saturday, in which the volunteer service attended incidents in the Comeraghs, the Knockmealdowns and the Galtee mountain ranges.
The first callout was to the Coumshingaun Loop near Kilclooney Woods, where walkers called for help after 3pm after getting lost near the woods. Two separate teams of SEMRA members made their way up the mountain at around 4pm, one team leaving from Mahon Falls, and the other team from Kilclooney Woods. Once located, the walkers were escorted down to Mahon Falls carpark.
INJURED PARAGLIDER
As members were dealing with this, they received a second callout at approximately 4.45pm to attend to an injured paraglider in the Knockmealdown mountains. At 5.04pm, some 20 minutes after the callout, a member of SEMRA was at the casualty site with the Rescue 117 helicopter overhead. The victim was attended by an off-duty doctor initially, and subsequently by Coast Guard 117 personnel, along with a National Ambulance Service (NAS) paramedic. The victim was airlifted to hospital.
LOST WALKER
As this rescue was underway, at 5.19pm, Gardaí called SEMRA to assist with a lost walker in the Galtees. Leaving from Glencush carpark (Galtymore North carpark), the first SEMRA members on site made their way up the hill and came across a member of the lost person’s party, who directed them to the vicinity of their colleague.
Having located them, SEMRA members directed them towards the carpark and they made their own way off the hill. Checking they were OK in the carpark, SEMRA volunteers were done with an extremely busy day on Saturday by 7pm.