Twenty-five people have been rescued after a French-registered sailing vessel struck a fish farm and began taking on water near Clare Island, Co Mayo.
The 24-metre vessel made contact with the fish farm around one mile east of Clare Island in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Malin Head Coast Guard Coordination Centre received a distress call and tasked the Irish Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue 118 from Sligo and Achill Island RNLI to the scene.
The Achill Island all-weather lifeboat launched at 4.30am. Sixteen non-essential crew members from the sailing vessel were transferred by lifeboat to Clare Island.
The remaining nine people remained on board the sailing vessel to assist.
The RNLI said once the situation was brought under control by the fish farm, the lifeboat proceeded to Clare Island where the 16 crew were brought safely to Achill Island.
The lifeboat crew then returned to the scene and monitored the situation until the sailing vessel was removed from the fish farm. The lifeboat then safely escorted it back to Achill, arriving at 8pm yesterday.
RNLI Coxswain Dave Curtis said the operation had been a lengthy call-out for RNLI volunteers, beginning in the early hours and finishing late in the evening.
“We would like to commend those on the sailing vessel, those working for the fish farm and everyone else involved yesterday including the Clare Island nurse and the community centre staff, for working together in challenging circumstances, to help bring the crew to safety and for monitoring an ongoing situation where a vessel was taking on water and needed to be freed from the farm,” he said.
Mr Curtis said it was a time-consuming process but the efforts of all involved ensured everyone came ashore safely.