Woman, 85, airlifted to hospital following heart attack at funeral

AN 85-year-old woman was airlifted to hospital yesterday after she suffered a heart attack while attending a relative’s funeral in Co. Clare.

The woman, understood to be from the Midlands, had travelled to Doolin for the funeral and was attending the burial ceremony when she collapsed.

Several mourners rushed to help the woman while the emergency services were called.

A local doctor and an ambulance from Ennistymon rushed to the scene while the local unit of the Irish Coast Guard was requested to assist. Volunteers from the Doolin unit secured a landing site for the helicopter in a field next to the graveyard.

The Irish Coast Guard search and rescue helicopter based at Shannon Airport landed in a field near the graveyard after it was called in to operate in an air ambulance role.

She was transferred to the helicopter and airlifted to University Hospital Galway.

Meanwhile, a young man seriously injured in a workplace accident in Lahinch, Co. Clare, on Friday is recovering in hospital in Galway after emergency surgery.

It’s understood that the man caught his arm in a pasta machine while working in the kitchen of a restaurant in the resort town.

The man in his 20s, understood to be a non-Irish national, had been working in the kitchen of the premises when the accident occurred.

Members of the Doolin unit of the Coast Guard cleared a landing site on the beach for the helicopter.