A man in his 70s was airlifted to hospital after getting into difficulty swimming in the Irish Sea. The elderly man was spotted off of the North Beach in Rush, Co.Dublin by a fishing boat just after 9.30am.
The Irish Coast Guard helicopter 116, a coast guard crew from Skerries, and Skerries RNLI rushed to the scene. The man swam to shore himself within 10 minutes, but was distressed and airlifted to Drogheda for a check up. However, there was no ambulance to meet the man, suspected to be suffering from hypothermia, at the landing site, O’Raghallaighs GAA grounds.
In a statement this evening, the HSE said: “The Irish Coast Guard responded to a search and rescue call this morning.”
“They notified the National Ambulance Services approximately 10 minutes prior to its estimated time of arrival in Drogheda. All ambulances in the region were at that time tasked with prior calls. The Coast Guard had a jeep ready to meet the helicopter on its arrival as is standard practice and decided to transport the patient to Our Lady Of Lourdes hospital.”