RNLI carry out midnight medevac of teenager from Mayo island

ACHILL Island RNLI carried out the medical evacuation of a teenage boy from Clare Island in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The call-out was the third medevac from the island within the last two weeks.

The all-weather lifeboat ‘Sam and Ada Moody’ arrived at Clare Island just minutes after midnight under the command of Dave Curtis, coxswain, with Michael Cattigan (mechanic), Terry Hogarth, Thomas Ruddy, Stephen McGreal and Andrew Arnold making up the volunteer crew. There was a south west force 5 breeze at the time, with moderate sea conditions.

On arrival at the port in Clare Island, the casualty was assessed by the crew. He was then taken onboard the lifeboat and brought to Roonagh Pier for onward transfer to Mayo University Hospital.

The lifeboat and her crew arrived back at their Achill Island station at 1.30 a.m.

Speaking after the call-out, Achill Island RNLI's volunteer lifeboat operations manager, Ciaran Needham, said: “This is the third medevac from Clare Island carried out by our volunteer crew in less than two weeks. We have always had a strong relationship with our friends on our locally inhabited islands and our volunteer crew are happy to respond to any call for help, should the need arise.

“We wish all of the casualties well with their respective recoveries.”