Six people were rescued after their boat became caught up on a fishing marker just off Dalkey in south Dublin at the weekend.
The Dun Laoghaire RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew was called out at 10.49pm on Sunday after the Irish Coast Guard reported that a small power boat with six people on board had become entangled with a pot marker.
Two of the volunteer crew members used their XP-class lifeboat to free the trapped vessel which they successful towed away from the rocks and escorted back towards Dun Laoghaire harbour.
Weather conditions during the call out were fair with a slight breeze and good visibility.
None of the passengers on board the vessel were injured in the incident and all returned to land safely.
Pot markers or marker buoys are used to indicate the position of pots used for fishing lobster, crab or other fish or shellfish. There have been previous complaints of vessels’ propellers becoming entangled in the ropes of these marker buoys when the length of the rope used to fix the marker is too long.
Speaking following the incident, Eamon O’Leary from the Dun Laoghaire RNLI said it had been dark during the call out. “It is so important to raise the alarm as soon as possible and to ensure that everyone on board is wearing a life-jacket,” he added.
It was a busy weekend for rescue services. On Bank Holiday Monday a woman in her 50s was airlifted to Dublin’s Tallaght Hospital with “multiple injuries” by the Irish Coast Guard after she fell at Dalkey quarry.
On Saturday the Wicklow lifeboat services were also called out to rescue two trawlers in separate incidents.
And on Friday a man and his dog were rescued by the coast guard after they were cut off by an incoming tide in Dublin bay.
