THREE MEN were airlifted to hospital after coming into difficulty while trying to swim back to shore from a sinking vessel in Co Cork this evening.

The three had been sailing in a dinghy from Audley Cove, near Ballydehob, when their dinghy began to capsize close to Horse Island a few hundred metres offshore.

The men were able to swim to the island but, in the absence of any help arriving to bring them back to shore, attempted to swim back to shore.

The men got into difficulty when swimming back, however, with one getting into severe trouble.

The alarm was raised at around 5:45pm by a nearby person in a kayak, who was able to assist the swimmer in greatest difficulty and call the local RNLI branch at Baltimore.

An inshore RNLI vessel was able to rescue the other two swimmers – one of whom was showing symptoms of hypothermia and exhaustion at this point – while an offshore boat followed to rescue the third person from the body of the kayak.

All three were taken to Schull where they were later airlifted to Cork University Hospital.