A 45-YEAR-OLD fisherman has been admitted to hospital in Sligo after being airlifted from his trawler by an Irish Coast Guard helicopter some 260km off the Mayo coast.

An emergency call was received from the vessel — the Western Chieftan —- by the Marine Rescue Centre in Malin this morning.

After discussions with doctors at Medico Cork, which provides medical support and information for vessels in Irish waters, a decision was made to carry out an emergency airlift.

The Rescue 118 helicopter was dispatched from Sligo just before 10am, and made its way to the scene with support from an Air Corps CASA plane.

The man — an Irish national — was taken safely from the vessel and flown back to shore.

He was admitted to Sligo General Hospital at 1.31pm this afternoon, an officer at Malin confirmed to TheJournal.ie.

The man’s injuries are not believed to be life threatening.

It’s normal practice for a second aircraft to be sent as ‘top cover’ support when Coast Guard helicopters are responding to long-range incidents.

The Air Corps plane ‘Charlie 252′ arrived on scene at 11.50am and remained with the trawler, providing a communications relay between it, the Coast guard and ‘Rescue 118’ during the mission.

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