A POTENTIAL maritime accident was averted on Friday evening when an unmanned sailing boat was secured and towed to safety by an RNLI lifeboat after it was reported drifting in the Shannon estuary dangerously close to busy ferry and shipping lanes.
The incident occurred when the captain of a car ferry, operated by the Shannon Ferry Group, observed the boat with its moorings still attached drifting with the tide in the estuary between Killimer in Co Clare and Tarbert in Co Kerry.
The stretch of water is a busy shipping lane with vessels regularly travelling up the estuary to Limerick Port, Foynes Port, the Aughinish Alumina plant and Shannon airport. Ferries operate between Killimer and Tarbert twice an hour and are often packed with passengers, cars, trucks and other vehicles.
When the captain of one of the ferries realised that the boat was drifting with the tide and was at risk of crossing in to his path, he raised the alarm with the Irish Coast Guard. The coast guard communications and co-ordination centre at Valentia in Co Kerry alerted the Kilrush RNLI lifeboat at 4.18pm.
The crew had difficulty approaching the vessel and were offered “shelter” by one of the ferry captains. The captain offered to use his vessel to create a shield from the strong winds.
The team managed to get alongside the boat and first checked that there was no one on board.
Kilrush RNLI lifeboat training officer Pauline Dunleavy said, “The sailboat had been drifting back and forth with the tide and could have caused an incident if it had drifted in to the path of one of the ferries or another ship.”