A MAN WHOSE small boat ran aground on rocks off Inis Saimer, just off Ballyshannon in Donegal, was rescued yesterday afternoon following a multi-agency operation. 

The alarm was raised by the man on the boat who put in an emergency call to the Irish Coast Guard at Malin Head just before 1pm.

Bundoran RNLI, Inland Fisheries Ireland, the National Ambulance Service (NAS), the gardaí and Rescue helicopter 118 all participated in the operation. 

When officials examined the situation it was determined that sea conditions made it too unsafe for the lifeboat to launch and try get across the bar at the end of the Erne Estuary.

As a result, four volunteer crew members made their way by road to an Inland Fisheries boat, which was already at the Mall Pier in Ballyshannon around 50 metres from the man who’d run aground.

Officers from Inland Fisheries, assisted by volunteer lifeboat crew, then safely extracted the man and brought him to shore where he was asissted by crew from the NAS.

The casualty boat was subsequently towed to safety by the Bundoran lifeboat.

Helm of the lifeboat Michael Patton said: “We were glad to be able to get the man safely off the boat and return his boat to him – he was also wearing a lifejacket and we would remind anyone taking to the water that this is an essential piece of equipment anytime you set sail.”