A video of the “heroic” rescue of a young girl from rough seas in Dún Laoghaire has gone viral, with up to a million views on the dramatic recovery of the child who was in the water in difficult conditions.
The video was captured by Tom Lyons of The Currency who described the actions of the rescue services as “heroic”.
Heroic rescue just now in Dun Laoghaire. pic.twitter.com/ExrXcc73Kv
— Tom Lyons (@TomLyonsBiz) April 6, 2024
“I didn’t see how the person ended up in the water. But they were really struggling. Brave people were really trying to help but the waves were really big and they couldn’t reach them,” Mr Lyons wrote on X, adding that the RNLI, the Gardaí and other rescue services “prevented a serious tragedy”.
A member of the RNLI crew jumped into the sea to pull the child out of the blustery waters, and was taken to the hospital, where her injuries were described as non-life threatening.
“Dún Laoghaire rescuers say girl’s jacket and behaviour helped her survive. Rescuers who saved a young girl at Dún Laoghaire in south Dublin yesterday evening after she was apparently swept out to sea have said her calm demeanour in the water, as well as the jacket she was wearing, helped her to survive,” RTÉ News reported.
Twenty-four year-old Luke Nolan from Rathfarnham described the scene as “extremely traumatic” to RTÉ News and said that he and his friends attempted to help the child after they heard a cry for help from a young girl and older man.
“Myself and my friends were just walking down Dún Laoghaire pier and we saw a girl put her hand up for help, so we approached her.
“Myself and my friend, we got in on the other side of the pier and tried to grab the girl out, but she had been swept too far away, so we got a few buoyants and tried to throw them in to help the girl but unfortunately, she was too far away.
“There’s nothing you can do, you feel helpless.”
“We got the buoyants from the outside of the pier, and there was 4-5 of them and we tried to tie them all together and throw them in, but the conditions were that horrendous that we couldn’t actually get the buoyants into the water,” he said.
He said the conditions were “absolutely horrendous” and that it was a relief that the coastguard arrived.
In a statement, gardaí said: “Gardaí assisted emergency services in the rescue of a female child who had gone into the water at Dún Laoghaire harbour on Saturday evening.
“The child was rescued from the water by emergency services and taken to hospital in South Dublin to be treated for non-life threatening injuries.”
Dún Laoghaire Coast Guard, noting the rescue, called on people to “respect the water, heed the warnings.”
📟 Callout – East Pier, Dun Laoghaire 6.4.24 📟
Child in water. @DLCoastGuard @RNLIDunLaoghair @AmbulanceNAS @GardaTraffic @DubFireBrigade and #rescue116 all tasked. Child recovered and taken to hospital. Respect the water, heed the warnings!!! https://t.co/oFj6LCDsg8
— Dun Laoghaire Coast Guard (@DLCoastGuard) April 6, 2024