Woman dies after falling overboard from boat berthed at marina

A WOMAN who died after falling overboard from a boat berthed at Malahide Marina survived for an hour in the lethally cold waters before rescuers located her.

The woman, who was in her late 40s and a visitor from Britain, was found floating beside a pontoon after an extensive search in the early hours of yesterday morning.

She showed signs of life when recovered by the Howth Lifeboat and was given first aid by waiting ambulance personnel, but she did not regain consciousness and died later in Beaumont Hospital.

Gardaí immediately began an investigation into the tragedy and a post-mortem examination on the woman's remains was carried out yesterday afternoon

The alarm was raised by companions, who tried frantically to save her but lost sight of her in the dark after she fell into the sea shortly after 1am.

Marina staff, local gardaí, the fire brigade and lifeboat crew from Howth, assisted by the Coastguard helicopter, joined in the search. They found the woman at 2.05am, some distance from the vessel she had been staying on but still within the marina.

Despite the good weather and bank holiday, the popular facility was not very busy, as the main boating season had not yet begun, and strong winds deterred owners from putting their vessels into the waters.

“It was flat calm in the marina but there was a very strong easterly wind. It was quite a cold and nasty night and the unfortunate woman was in the water for about an hour,” said the honorary secretary of Howth RNLI, Rupert Jeffares.

The tragedy was one of a series of boating mishaps over the weekend.

Several canoeists were rescued after their crafts overturned in heavy seas off Bray Head on Friday night.

Earlier that day, a father and son were pulled safely from Lough Derg by the crew of a cruiser after their kayak overturned, and 14 people were rescued from a dive boat by Howth Lifeboat and the Coastguard helicopter, after encountering difficult conditions off Lambay Island.