LAST UPDATE | 23 Feb 2019

A YOUNG GIRL has been rushed to hospital in a critical condition after a boating incident in Limerick this morning.

The girl is understood to have been one of a group of four female youths travelling in a rowing boat that was found overturned on a stretch of the Abbey River.

The incident occurred shortly after 10am.

According to reliable sources, members of Limerick City and County Fire and Rescue Service came across the boat overturned in the water.

The fire service was made up of specially-trained Swift Water Rescue Technician water rescue personnel who had been carrying out a routine performance check of their rapid response boat Fireswift.

The firefighters immediately swung into a search and rescue operation, which also involved  members of the Limerick Marine Search and Rescue Service, gardai, and the Shannon-based Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter.

The injured girl became trapped underneath the boat after it overturned, reliable sources said.

Firefighters provided emergency first aid to the injured female casualty as they ferried her to dry land in their boat.

The girl was taken to St Michael’s Boatclub Slipway in Limerick city and removed by ambulance to University Hospital Limerick where she was in a critical condition, sources said.

Munster Regional Communications Centre, the handling and processing centre for all 999 fire service related calls in the region, received the alert at 10.15am.

Four units of Limerick city’s fire service were deployed to Athlunkard Boat Club, near Corbally, to deal with a water rescue call.

The Shannon-based Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter was deployed to the scene but was stood down early in the rescue operation.

It’s believed three other girls, who had also been in the rowing boat, were all rescued and not injured.