THE COAST GUARD has rescued two swimmers who got into difficulty on Dublin beaches yesterday.

At 3pm yesterday, the Coast Guard Operations centre received an emergency 112 call reporting an unconscious swimmer on Claremont Beach in Howth.

A number of agencies were tasked to the scene including Beach Life Guards, Howth Coast Guard and Howth Community First Responders, along with paramedics from Dublin Fire Brigade and the National Ambulance Service.

The lifeguards who took the swimmer out of the water immediately started CPR and within a couple of minutes, they were joined by Coast Guard personnel from the nearby Howth station who assisted them.

With a joint effort by all agencies, the swimmer was successfully resuscitated and was brought to a waiting ambulance for transfer to Beaumont Hospital.

He is expected to make a full recovery.

Meanwhile, shortly before 5pm the Coast Guard received a call for an unresponsive swimmer on the nearby Burrow Beach.

The swimmer, a young tourist, had spent time under the water.

Beach Life Guards quickly attended the scene and revived the causality. The Coast Guard Rescue 116 helicopter and Howth RNLI also attended the scene.

“In serious incidents of this nature time is of the essence, the first 10 minutes are critical to try obtain a successful outcome,” the Irish Coast Guard said in a statement.

While most people have mobile phones, often in the sunshine on a crowded beach people assume someone else is making the call.

“We could encourage people not to make that assumption and remember for a Beach Emergency – ‘Know what to do, call the Coast Guard at 112′.”