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Training exercise helps in real life drama

Tuesday, 06 January 2009

THE importance of intense, regular training between land based coast guard rescue teams and the Dublin Coast Guard rescue helicopter was dramatically highlighted recently. Rescue personnel from the Skerries Coast Guard unit took part in a training exercise with the coast guard helicopter. As part of the exercise, a landing site was selected on Red Island, Skerries, and the coast guards quickly cordoned, prepared and set up a designated landing site. The rescue helicopter made its approach and performed a brief landing and simulated casualty evacuation and departure. The helicopter then did a demonstration of their nighttime illumination equipment or ‘night sun’. This is used for night searches or night approaches for landing the aircraft. The night sun is remotely controlled by a crewman from within the helicopter and has the strength of 30 million candlepower. But the personnel involved in the training exercise did not have long to wait before their training was put to the test in real life. On December 13 at 5.15pm a member of the public contacted Dublin Coast Guard to say that two windsurfers were missing off the South Beach at Rush. In an emergency 999 call, the caller said the two windsurfers were overdue by an hour and could not be sighted from the shore. Coast guard officers based at the Marine Rescue Control Centre in Dublin immediately tasked the Skerries Coast Guard unit and the coast guard rescue helicopter to go to the scene and search for the missing windsurfers. The helicopter was on the scene within minutes and using their on-board infra red camera and powerful night sun spotlight, the helicopter searched the Rush coast and quickly located the two windsurfers, near the beach. The helicopter then guided the coast guard team to the windsurfers and the team assisted the two from the water. Both casualties were reported to be safe and well.