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A 14-year-old boy remains in a serious condition in hospital in Cork after a serious boating accident.
The alarm was raised shortly after 11am on Saturday when the boy suffered the injury while on board a boat in Schull, west Cork. The boy was struck on the head when the boom of the boat swung across the deck and hit him.
Advanced paramedics treated the boy on shore and Waterford-based Rescue 117 was sent to the scene. The teenager was then airlifted to Cork University Hospital. His condition is said to be improving.
Valentia Coast Guard co-ordinated the operation and was also involved in a medical evacuation from Inis Mór, one of the Aran Islands, off the coast of Galway.
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The evacuation occurred after a woman was injured during a cliff diving competition.
The Red Bull Cliff Diving event on Inis Mór involved international competitors diving from a 27-metre platform into a natural rectangular pool, known as the Serpent’s Lair, south of Dun Aengus.
Poor weather
There were 14 men and 8 women diving on Saturday in poor weather, in the first of a world-wide six-venue competition.
A spokesman for Valentia Coastguard said that at 11.15am on Saturday, they received a call from the dive centre on Inis Mór.
They were advised there was a woman injured and a doctor at the scene had requested medical evacuation.
Rescue 115, the Shannon-based helicopter, was deployed and assistance was given by the north Aran coastguard unit. The woman was taken to Galway University Hospital with suspected spinal injuries and arrived shortly before 12.30pm.
According to event organisers Red Bull, she was discharged from hospital late on Saturday night.
Also on Saturday, a man in his 50s was taken to hospital with serious head injuries after a kite-surfing accident off the coast of Sutton, on the north side of Dublin.
The alarm was raised at approximately 4pm, when the man, who was kite-surfing in the water, was pulled by the wind into the sea wall. He is expected to make a full recovery.