Six rescued in separate incidents on local lough

Six rescued in separate incidents on local lough

28 August 2013

PORTAFERRY lifeboat rescued six people in two separate incidents over the weekend.

The inshore lifeboat was called out to rescue two people who became stranded on an island in Strangford Lough on Thursday night.

The man and woman had become stranded on Island Hill, a small island which lies just offshore on Strangford Lough between Newtownards and Comber.

The island is accessible on foot at low tide via a concrete causeway however the couple had been cut off when the causeway became submerged due to the incoming tide.

The call was received at 1.28am and the volunteer lifeboat crew were on the water at 1.38am, arriving at the island at 2.15am.

The weather at the time was overcast with light winds and fair visibility.

The man and woman were taken on board the lifeboat and taken to a nearby car-park where they were they were passed into the care of Portaferry Coastguard.

Then on Saturday evening the lifeboat was called to a mayday call after a converted fishing trawler lost power and began taking on water in Strangford Lough.

The alarm was raised by the crew of a yacht which saw the 80 foot former trawler, with two men and two women on board, drifting in Ringhaddy Sound near Whiterock.

When the lifeboat crew arrived at the powerless boat one man and one woman had already transferred to the yacht.

The RNLI, with help from the yacht crew, manoeuvred the boat onto the pontoons at Ringhaddy and the lifeboat crew stayed with the boat’s owner as the water was pumped out.

When the mayday call incident had ended safely for everyone concerned Brian Bailie, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Portaferry RNLI, thanked all those who helped in the rescue.

“The prompt actions of everyone involved resulted in a positive outcome and the volunteer RNLI crew for the second time in as many days helped to avert a potentially very serious situation,” he said.