FORTUNATE RESCUE OF TOURIST AT LOUGH GILL
Dangers of small vessels highlighted as Spanish tourist is rescued thanks to a passing tour boat
WATER enthusiasts are being warned of the dangers of boating after a Spanish tourist was rescued from Lough Gill last week.
Juan Rodrigo fell out of the small kayak boat he was in with two friends near Church Island on Lough Gill on the August Bank Holiday Monday.
Luckily for Juan – who cannot swim - the Rose of Innisfree Tour Boat was passing by and saw the drama. “The girl in his boat said he had been in the water for some time,” Christina McGoldrick told The Sligo Champion.
“I just threw off the life buoy and he grabbed it. We hauled him on the aft (back) of the boat. He was very traumatised and distressed. He was semi-hypothermic,” she said.
Christina immediately put a foil blanket and fleece jacket around the victim. The Coastguard Helicopter had already been alerted by the girl in the boat and arrived at the scene. A whinchman came down from the chopper onto the boat to examine the casualty for injuries.
After the coastguard left the scene the man and his friends stayed aboard the Rose of Innisfree for 2-3 hours.
“If it was a half hour later we’d have been gone around to the other side of the lake. Even though it was a nice enough day the water can be very cold,” said Christina.
“They had walked across in Slish Wood earlier that morning and thought they could take out the boat. People do take chances with small boats. In all our years on the lake we never had to carry out a rescue of somebody like that in the water,” she added.