Essential in times of waterborne tragedies, the Donegal Bay Sub Aqua Club Search & Recovery are fundraising for a new Search & Recovery Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) with prizes to be won.
The Donegal Bay Sub Aqua Club Search & Recovery Unit is based in Donegal Town & serves the South West of the region, Donegal & Fermanagh
Formed over 32 years ago, the club support other emergency services such as Garda Underwater Unit, Irish Coast Guard & the RNLI to recover missing persons from rivers/lakes/sea with the aim of saving lives.
A spokesperson for the club, Rowhyn Gallagher said:
“The club deal mostly with search and recovery and are brought in by the RNLI, coastguard and Gardaí when theres been an incident in the water.
“If someone has gone missing, we’re tasked with trying to bring them home to their family.”
The club has 25 members and just over 10 search & recovery divers, with Rowhyn hoping to qualify as a search & recovery diver next year.
Becoming a search & recovery diver entails becoming a 2 star CMAS diver then doing the Irish Underwater Council’s course before being able to be called out when needed in the event of waterborne emergencies.
One essential for when being called out on such important events is having the proper equipment and the club is in need of a new RIB boat.
The fundraiser for the new RIB boat has just begun in the last week, with €620 of their €10,000 goal raised so far.
Rowhyn added: “We have two (RIB boats) but one is at the point where it needs to go so we’re fundraising for a new one which will hopefully be here in March.
“We’re very lucky as we were contacted and asked if we wanted to do a raffle they’d give up prizes, so we have a 42inch smart TV, a drinks hamper and a food hamper going.”
Any donation of €20 or more will automatically enter people into the draw for the TV and hampers. Anyone willing to donate can do so here.
