VOLUNTEERS FROM THE RNLI branches in Howth and Skerries came to the aid of a fishing boat that had hit rocks along the coast of north Co Dublin today, rescuing one person and managing to save the vessel. 

The Howth crew members were alerted to the incident when their pagers went off at around 1 o’clock this afternoon. The all-weather lifeboat was launched within 10 minutes, the RNLI said.

Due to the urgency of the situation, Dublin Coast Guard also requested Skerries RNLI to launch their lifeboat and for the Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 116 to make their way to the scene, the RNLI said. 

A number of nearby fishing boats offered assistance but were unable to get close to the rocks where the boat had run aground and was taking on water.

The Howth crew was first to reach the scene, followed soon after by their colleagues from Skerries. They found one person on board and learned that the fishing vessel was unable to manoeuvre.

The fisherman was thrown a line and the boat was towed away from the rocks before two lifeboat crew members were able to board with a salvage pump and bring the water down to a safe level. The boat was then towed to Skerries Harbour. 

Howth RNLI Second Coxswain Ian Sheridan described the operation as “a challenging rescue” due to the boats location, and commended the fisherman for doing the right thing and calling for help.

“We were able to safely remove the boat from the rocks and bring the fisherman to safety,” Sheridan said.

“This was a great example of two RNLI crews working together with different types of lifeboats to save a life at sea.”