A couple and their dogs were winched to safety on rescue helicopters this afternoon after becoming stranded on a sandbank in Sandymount, Dublin.
Officers alerted the Irish Coast Guard who quickly came to the rescue along with Dun Laoghaire lifeboat. The pair and their dogs had to be airlifted from the beach.
A Garda spokesman said the Air Support Unit began a rescue operation when it noticed the pair walking the dog were in “serious danger”. “They were getting surrounded by the incoming tide and hadn’t realised it,” he said.
The garda helicopter landed and rescued one of the couple while the Coastguard airlifted the second person and their dogs. Dun Laoghaire lifeboat said that the shallow water meant that the crew could only get to within a quarter of a mile of the area and had to walk the remaining distance.
A spokesman has said that nobody was injured in the incident. They also warned of the dangers of the incoming tide. “Sandymount Strand has various sandbanks which can be deceptive during incoming tides that can cut off walkers from the shore in a short space of time.”