Irish Coast Guard’s 4th medical evacuation of injured persons
The Irish Coast Guard is currently involved in its fourth medical evacuation this week (and it’s second in 24hrs) as it evacuates an injured crew member from a fishing vessel off the Irish coast. The Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter this afternoon evacuated a crew member from a UK registered fishing vessel the ‘Achieve’ which was located 110 miles south west of the Blasket Islands. The casualty (a crew member) from this vessel was seriously injured and is being transferred to Tralee General Hospital by the Coast Guard helicopter.
The incident was co-ordinated by the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre of the Irish Coast Guard at Valentia which tasked the Shannon-based helicopter this morning to travel with an A&E Registrar from Cork University Hospital to treat the injured crew member en-route. Crews on these helicopter are also trained to paramedic standard. The helicopter arrived on scene at 14:37pm this afternoon and crew and medical personnel administered treatment to the casualty. The helicopter travelled onward to Tralee Regional Hospital where it arrived at approximately 16:30pm this afternoon. The Air Corps Casa aircraft provided top-cover for the helicopter during this incident.
Other medical evacuations the Irish Coast Guard was involved in this week included:
Wednesday 17 August 2011: Coast Guard helicopter from Shannon carried out a medical evacuation of an injured crew member from the fishing vessel Nuvo Jundino, which was located 118 nautical miles west-north west of the Blasket Islands.
Tuesday 16 August 2011: Coast Guard co-ordinated rescue of five females from the Aran Islands. This incident involved the North Aran Coast Guard Unit and the Coast Guard helicopter from Shannon.
Monday 15 August 2011: Coast Guard Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre co-ordinates of the rescue of 21 persons on board the yacht Rambler 100 off Baltimore. Coast Guard helicopters from Shannon and Waterford assisted in the rescue of persons from the hull of the vessel, together with the RNLI lifeboat crew from Baltimore.