This weekend’s ‘Late Late Show’ on RTÉ paid a special tribute to the brave members of the coastguard and RNLI who face treacherous conditions to help those in need.
A panel of coastguard and RNLI volunteers were invited along to the ‘Late Late Show’, where they recounted situations they have faced while on duty.
Shane McCrudden, the deputy officer of Killybegs Coast Guard station (pictured above) was in attendance, and told of the New Years Day rescue in 2013.
Over thirty rescuers went to Slieve League to rescue a 28-year-old man who fell 400 feet down a cliff, including Killybegs Coast Guard, Arranmore RNLI, Donegal Mountain Rescue, local people, and members of Sligo/Leitrim Mountain Rescue.
The rescue took twelve hours to complete.
An airlift was not possible on that evening due to the weather, so rescuers had to carry climbing gear to the top of the cliff by hand.
Two climbers abseiled down to retrieve the man, however when they reached 400 feet they realised that the man was 150 feet to the left of them, so they had to climb back up, re-set, and go down again.
Shane said that “the locals are just as important as us” when it comes to a successful rescue.
Shane said; “It was a massive multi-agency rescue, we’ve learned so much from it. There’s parts of it that we use.”
“It’s a good outcome, except for the man having mild hypothermia, and being hungry! That was a good rescue for us.”
Thankfully the man, who was originally from Carlow, made a full recovery; albeit feeling a bit hungry!
“For me it’s an addiction. Being on call outs, giving back to the community, I love being in [the station], there’s administration work, the climbing aspect, boating operations, searching operations, there’s an endless amount of jobs there.”
Also in attendance was Cationa Lucas’ husband Bernard.
Catriona Lucas was the first member of the coastguard to lose her life during a rescue mission in County Clare in September 2016.
In an emotional interview, he told of how it had been a very difficult Christmas, but that they have a great support network of friends and neighbours, and had received heartfelt letters from people around the country.
Catriona’s son Ben said that “it hasn’t hit me yet, I haven’t realised the enormity of the situation, I’ve been in autopilot since September.”
Heroically, just a couple of weeks after losing his wife, Bernard was back out with the coast guard.
“It’s just what we do, it’s what Catriona did and loved.” He also said that he finds great comfort in it.
He added that “you don’t realise how much it means to bring someone back.”
To watch the full interview you can view it on the RTÉ player by clicking here.
Tags:
