Three people have been rescued off the coast of Clogherhead after the boat they were travelling in sank.

The coastguard were alerted to the incident after the Emergency Positioning Indication Radio Beacon (EPIRB) system sent an emergency signal.

A coastguard helicopter was immediately deployed and three fishermen were located in the water at around 11.50am.

‘One of them was suffering with severe hypothermia so they were rescued just in the nick of time,’ revealed Dermot McConnoran from Drogheda Coastguard. ‘They winched the three men into the helicopter and they were transferred to Drogheda from there.

‘The Clogherhead lifeboat was also launched at around 11.15am and at noon the Drogheda Coastguard were tasked with transferring the three casualties from the helicopter, which landed at O’Raghallaighs, to the waiting ambulances.’

The other two fishermen’s conditions were more stable and they were described as ‘walking wounded’ he said.

‘We don’t know what caused the boat to sink but there is no doubt that the thing that saved them was the EPIRB system. All three of the men were aged in their 40s and as far as I am aware they were clinging to the liferaft from the trawler for quite a while.

‘They were very very lucky the coastguard got there when they did, they wouldn’t have lasted much longer in the cold conditions,’ said Mr McConnoran.

Source: Drogheda Independent