A SURFER HAS been airlifted to hospital after he got into difficulty on the Clare coast this morning.

The alarm was raised at around 11:30am when the Irish Coast Guard received a report of an incident in Baltard Bay south of Doonbeg. It was the third incident in the same area in recent months.

It’s understood that a member of the public spotted a person lying the rocks in apparent difficulty. The observer raised the alarm and also attracted the attention of other surfers in the area who went to the casualty’s assistance.

The Kilkee unit of the Coast Guard, National Ambulance Service and gardaí were all alerted while the Shannon-based search and rescue helicopter was also tasked to the scene.

A group of surfers had gathered in the area to surf the well-known Riley’s Wave which can appear during periods of large swell, attracting surfers and body-boarders from all over the country and often overseas.

It’s understood that the casualty sustained an injury while surfing but managed to make it safely onto the rocks.

Rescue 115’s winchman and paramedic was lowered down to the scene beneath the cliffs. The operation was described as “difficult” with conditions in the area reported to be “challenging”.

After several attempts to reach the casualty, the helicopter’s winchman was safely lowered to the shoreline. After assessing and treating the injured surfer, the casualty was winched on board the helicopter and flown to University Hospital Galway for treatment.

Co Clare is under a wind warning, in place since 2pm.

Last November, a man was airlifted to hospital after he was injured in a surfing accident at the same location while in September last year, another injured surfer had to be airlifted from the area.

In 2016, a body-boarder was airlifted to hospital after he was injured at the same location while a year earlier, a world-champion body-boarder was seriously injured in Ballard Bay and also had to be flown to hospital for treatment.