{"id":584761,"date":"2026-08-06T07:42:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T07:42:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/584761\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T07:42:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T07:42:30","slug":"six-people-rescued-off-donegal-coast-in-dramatic-overnight-operation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/584761\/","title":{"rendered":"Six people rescued off Donegal coast in dramatic overnight operation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six paddle boarders were rescued from rocks off the west Donegal coast in a dramatic overnight operation in the early hours of this morning.<\/p>\n

Worsening weather left them stranded and battling heavy rain, gale-force winds and dropping temperatures.<\/p>\n

The Arranmore RNLI volunteer crew responded to a call for assistance from Malin Head Coast Guard at 1.42am and were tasked to Lahan Island, Cloughglas, where six people were in difficulty on the rocks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The casualties were paddle boarding when the wind increased and they decided their safest option was to get on to the rocks and wait for low tide to continue to land ashore.<\/p>\n

As the weather deteriorated and they were getting colder, the group decided to call for help.<\/p>\n

The Arranmore lifeboat launched at 2.03am with seven crew members on board and the casualties were located with the assistance of the Bunbeg Coast Guard boat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crew members, Evan O\u2019Donnell and Joe Doherty launched the Y-boat from the stern of the lifeboat and proceeded to the casualties – at times, having to drag the boat across shallow sand banks, through waters up to their chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the all weather lifeboat stood by, the crew set off flares to light up the casualty area and Bunbeg crew also lit up the area with the help of a drone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Heavy rain, wind speeds of 55 knots and a swell of 2-4 meters breaking aft of the lifeboat made conditions challenging, but the casualty area was calm as it was nearer the shore.<\/p>\n

All six of the casualties were taken on board the Y-boat and taken to a local house where they were assessed and treated by the Bunbeg crew and ambulance.<\/p>\n

Arranmore RNLI coxswain Kieran O\u2019Donnell said: \u201cMy thanks to all the crew on board and especially Joe Doherty who helmed the Y-boat with Evan O\u2019Donnell assisting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took an hour and three quarters to get all of the casualties on board and to the safety of the shore. Their professionalism, commitment and dedication is commendable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people on the paddle boards did absolutely the right thing in calling for help and we are delighted for such a positive outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lifeboat returned to anchor at 5am and the crew on board was: Coxswain Kieran O\u2019Donnell; relief mechanic Reamon O\u2019Donnell; navigator Sharon O\u2019Donnell; Joe Doherty, Evan O\u2019Donnell, Bernard John O\u2019Donnell and James Jack O\u2019Donnell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six paddle boarders were rescued from rocks off the west Donegal coast in a dramatic overnight operation in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584762,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-584761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584761\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}