Injured Irish Navy crewman assisted by Castletownbere RNLI off West Cork coast

The man was on board the Irish Navy vessel L.E. George Bernard Shaw and was injured during sea exercises off the coast of West Cork

Castletownbere RNLI was launched on Wednesday night to go to the assistance of a crewman onboard the Irish Navy vessel L.E. George Bernard Shaw who had become injured during sea exercises off the coast of West Cork

Castletownbere RNLI was launched on Wednesday night to assist a navy crewman who has injured during sea exercises off the coast of West Cork.

At 10pm, Castletownbere lifeboat volunteer crew were requested to launch by Valentia Coastguard Marine Coordination Centre in order to provide assistance to the injured man.

The man was on board the Irish Navy vessel L.E. George Bernard Shaw and had become injured during sea exercises off the coast of West Cork.

The naval vessel was at anchor at Lawrence Cove off Bere Island.

The RNLI lifeboat was launched within minutes under the command of Coxswain Dean Hegarty with crew David O’Donovan, Martin Cronin, Dave Fenton, Seamus Harrington, Marc O’Hare and Donagh Murphy.

Just before 10.30pm, the lifeboat arrived on scene amid conditions that were described as very calm. The crewman was then transferred by stretcher from the naval vessel to the lifeboat where he received casualty care. 

On arrival at Castletownbere RNLI Station, the injured man was met by paramedics from the National Ambulance Service and subsequently received medical assessment and attention.

Commenting on the callout Castletownbere RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager, Paul Stevens, said everything thankfully went smoothly. 

"Thankfully, this was a very straightforward call out and everything went very smoothly – we wish the injured crewman a full and speedy recovery," he said.