Man rescues father and son off the Cork coast

A MAN paddled out to sea on his bodyboard to rescue a father and son from the freezing waters off the Cork coast yesterday.

The pair were washed out to sea when a freak wave hit them as they paddled their kayaks off Barleycove, near Mizen Head, at 2.30pm.

“We had a call from the man’s wife who was on the beach,” said Danny Lynch of the Valentia Coast Guard. “We sent the helicopter and the Goleen Coast Guard but before they got there a man on his bodyboard went out and got the two back in.” The pair had been kayaking when a wave hit them and threw them out of their boats. The father and son then became separated from their kayaks and drifted out to sea while the man’s wife watched helplessly from the shore.

Crews from the helicopter arrived at the scene and checked over the pair as the man on the bodyboard had reached them first.

“It was sterling work on his part [the volunteer’s] and the water is cold at these times,” said Mr Lynch.

In an alert on Saturday, the Dublin and Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team were about to begin their annual dinner at Glendalough, Co Wicklow, when the rescuers received a call to a woman with a fractured shoulder at a nearby crag.

The 20-year-old fell down a crag face at Glendalough and had to be brought out by boat while her friend, aged 17, had to be rescued by abseilers. She was unhurt. Both were taken to Loughlinstown hospital after the three-and-a-half hour rescue.

Last night rescuers were sent to the Comeragh mountains in Co Waterford after a man suffered what are believed to be hip, knee and back injuries. A woman was earlier rescued after falling on Carrauntuohill in Co Kerry.