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The Saltee Islands off the Wexford Coast
# lifejackets
It was a 'miracle' that nine more people didn't drown in Wexford yesterday
The group’s survival in the water for four hours was down to their life jackets, an RNLI representative has said.
AN OFFICIAL WITH the RNLI has described the rescue of a group of people in Wexford yesterday evening as “miraculous”.
The incident saw ten people pulled from the water after their fishing boat capsized. One member of the group, a 73-year-old man from Salisbury in England, died in hospital following the incident.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme, RNLI Operations Manager Owen Medland said that, “For that duration in the water, to have all individuals recovered, is really quite miraculous.”
The An Crossan [the local passenger ferry] halted to adjust its search light, and when turned back on, there was the upturned vessel with the 10 persons in the water.
The rescue operation happened after 11.15pm yesterday evening when the alarm was raised by someone who knew the group and was concerned that they had not returned.
Medland went on to say that the weather the group had headed out in was “entirely appropriate” for fishing, but that they more than likely had ran into some choppy conditions.
He went on to say that the fact that nine members of the group had survived was mostly down to the life jackets they were wearing.
“The inland waterways are dangerous places. Let people know where you’re going, when you’re due back, take a method of calling, and always, always wear a life jacket,” he said.
Read: Man dies off Wexford coast after a day’s leisure fishing turns to tragedy
Also: An elderly man has saved a drowning man’s life in Limerick
