Galway fishermen who saved paddleboarders make another rescue

THE Galway father and son who located two missing paddleboarders off the Aran islands last month have recorded another rescue.

Patrick and Morgan Oliver pulled a man from the river Corrib this morning after he was spotted in the water by a pedestrian shortly after 9am.

The father and son located the man off Nimmo’s pier, and he was taken by ambulance to University Hospital, Galway.

“We were just going fishing around 9am and one of the Galway RNLI lifeboat crew told us there was a man in the water, so we headed out and located him off Nimmo’s pier,” Patrick Oliver said.

“He was conscious, and the jacket he was wearing kept his head above water, so we brought him up to the Claddagh quay,” he said.

Members of the Galway Fire “Swift” rescue service assisted, and the Galway RNLI lifeboat was also preparing to launch. The man was taken by ambulance to University Hospital, Galway.

The man was spotted in the water close to the Spanish Arch in Galway town by a passer-by at around 9am this morning, according to Mike Swan, Operations Manager at the Galway station.

“The Fire Brigade entered the water and they extracted the man halfway down the river.

“It was a passerby who spotted him in the water, called 999 and got through to the marine rescue,” he told Independent.ie.

Rescue services were alerted and the Galway RNLI lifeboat launched from Galway docks within minutes.

The Galway lifeboat remained on standby during the operation and the man was rushed to University Hospital Galway.

The deputy launch authority on the Galway Lifeboat Barry Heskin said: “The quick response of the pedestrian was crucial in activating the rescue services to get to the man in time.”

Last month, the Olivers located cousins Sara Feeney (23) and Ellen Glynn (17) several miles south of the Aran island of Inis Oírr, some 15 hours after north-easterly winds had swept their paddleboards from Furbo beach out to sea.

The cousins, who were wearing lifejackets and had strapped their boards together, had been clinging to floats attached to crab pots. They have praised the Olivers and all involved in their safe rescue.

Ellen paid tribute to the Olivers and said she didn’t believe she’d have survived on her own as the girls survived all night at sea by tying their paddle boards together.

After the rescue, Ellen said: "There was a helicopter and two boats looking for us, and we could see them, and we were screaming, but they just missed us. But we figured in the morning they would find us.”

As the hours passed by Ellen and Sarah feared nobody was looking for them in the right place.

Ellen said: "We thought it was five o'clock in the evening, and we hadn't seen a single boat out. But it was only about 12. Then we got home, and the whole county (of Galway) and Clare was out looking for us. It was crazy," she added.

"Thank you so much to everyone. I'm just so happy and thankful.”

Throughout their 15-hour ordeal, the girls survived wild seas, freezing cold, thunder, lightning and torrential rain much of it in the pitch-black darkness of Galway Bay.

Shortly after noon the following day and as all hopes were fading, the cousins were plucked from the sea by Patrick and his son Morgan.

Mr Oliver used his master knowledge of the sea, currents and the prevailing winds to correctly pinpoint the pair's trajectory. The distance travelled by the cousins across Galway Bay, outwards towards the Atlantic, was further than anyone apart than Mr Oliver had estimated.

Three Coast Guard helicopters from Shannon, Sligo and Waterford, two RNLI lifeboats from Aran and Galway, the Doolin and Costello Bay Coast Guard units, Civil Defence and a number of local fishing vessels and leisure craft combed Galway Bay through the night and into the morning.

The Coast Guard last month confirmed a review into the incident was "ongoing", and was "in common with all Coast Guard search and rescue interventions". The Marine Casualty Investigation Board is not conducting an inquiry.