LIFEBOAT volunteers from Donagahadee RNLI battled huge seas and blizzards today to rescue a member of a working party who was injured on the Copeland Islands. The casualty suffered a minor hand injury when scaffolding collapsed at Mew Island lighthouse at the mouth of Belfast lough. The RNLI operations team described the weather conditions in the area as ‘atrocious’.
The £2 million all-weather lifeboat launched at 12.22pm and was at sea for around one hour. During the operation crew launched a smaller inflatable craft to bring the casualty from the shore of the exposed island to the waiting lifeboat. An ambulance was waiting at Donaghadee harbour to take the injured man to hospital. Last year Donaghadee’s lifeboat Saxon launched 27 times and saved 22 lives, according to the latest RNLI figures.