Sixteen rescued by Red Bay RNLI
Thursday, 28 January 2010
SIXTEEN people were rescued by Red Bay RNLI personnel during the past year.
The lifeboat was launched a total of 22 times, figures released on Monday by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution show.
There was an increase of 38 percent in the number of launches carried out by Northern Ireland's RNLI lifeboats last year as compared to the previous year. The statistics released by the charity show that lifeboats based at the nine lifeboat stations in Northern Ireland launched 272 times and rescued 261 people.
Portrush was the third busiest lifeboat station in the province with 40 callouts, bringing 11 people to safety. Bangor was the busiest station with 55 launches and 69 people rescued. This was followed by the RNLI's inland stations on Lough Erne in Enniskillen which launched 51 times and rescued 67 people.
The charity is gearing up for a very busy year in Northern Ireland. Portrush mechanic Anthony Chambers is due to receive a bronze medal from the charity for his rescue of two boys from a cave last Summer and the station also celebrates its 150th anniversary and Donaghadee lifeboat station also celebrates a birthday this year when it marks 100 years saving lives at sea. A new faster Atlantice 85 lifeboat is due to arrive in Red Bay for the Antrim coast and an inshore lifeboat will stations at Portrush. Also this June, Portaferry will officially open their new lifeboat station and name their new Blue Peter V lifeboat.
The RNLI statistics for Ireland showed 976 lifeboat launches with 1,008 people rescued last year. The RNLI has also listed the top five reasons that a lifeboat was requested to launch in Northern Ireland last year. The most common was for machinery failure with 54 of the callouts dealing with this type of incident. A vessel becoming stranded or grounded was the reason for 41 of the lifeboat calls last year.
This was followed by 18 launches to vessels thought to be in trouble and 12 callouts each to missing people and abandoned vessels.
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