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TWO MEN HAD a lucky escape last night, after they were thrown from their motor-craft when it hit a navigation buoy off Cobh in Co Cork.
Their vessel, an inflatable RIB, sped off from the scene of the crash — traveling in circles and eventually crashing outside the town’s Titanic Bar.
The men had a lucky escape, managing to dodge the out-of-control vessel and eventually swimming ashore.
Crosshaven’s RNLI lifeboat, Guileen and Crosshaven Coast Guard, the Cork harbour pilot launch and the Coast Guard Rescue 117 all responded to the call-out, at around 10.40pm last night.
Gardaí located the men “shocked and suffering the effects of mild hypothermia” according to a spokesperson for Crosshaven RNLI.
The men received medical treatment, but were not taken to hospital.
Their craft, which was damaged on impact with the shore, was towed back to the lifeboat station.
Patsy Fagen of Crosshaven Lifeboat said the incident could have been avoided if the men had employed a ‘kill cord’ which would have automatically shut-off the engine.
“Thankfully, this service ended with a good result, but could quite easily have resulted in fatalities. We urge all leisure boat users to get trained and always use a kill cord when driving powered vessels.”
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Very strange to see a buoy speed away from the scene??
10.40 pm. last night ? !!. Should be made pay for all the callout charges and damage.
Tim, indeed. No wonder they were shocked. Wonder what their boat did.
‘We urge all leisure boat users to get trained…’ – nice way of saying they were clueless idiots.
Crazy drunks
Should have a dead mans switch on those boats.save alot of hassel.
There is a “kill cord” system in which the driver attaches a lanyard to his/her wrist or life jacket.
The cord is attached to a switch on the control box/dash and instantly cuts the engine ignition when pulled.
The engine won’t start without the cord so the driver just hadn’t got it attached to himself.
An accident lime this happened at a boat show in which a chap fell put of a dingy while demonstrating the engine and the prop struck him killing him.
Cork was the scene of another accident where there were fatalities and limbs severed.
Two more contenders for the Darwin awards….
Fecking idiots…
Their parents must be bursting with pride this morning?????……
Sadly they would have to die to make the darwins’.but something tells me with their stulidity they might just make it
Was the Titanic bar the original destination?
I was a volunteer with the RNLI in Baltimore. Fantastic organisation and an invaluable resource on our coast.
people like these 2 numb nuts are the cause of most accidents off our coast. I now live in Australia wherein you have to do a day course and another day for examination to get a license to drive a boat over 8hp. They also implement the rules of the road on the waterways with a 0.050 limit on drink driving, and if your caught drink driving on the road or water your license will be suspended for both.
Dick heads (lucky to be alive)
If they are dick heads so are a huge majority of rib users as they are rarely used. Not saying that’s right to do or anything but highlighting they’re one of many
RNLI – Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
I’ve often wondered why SF haven’t moaned about the this great British institution – but maybe they have.
The RNLI was one of the few fine British institutions to stay on after independence. Its a pity a few more didn’t….
You should get a bit of help with your shinnerphobia pitt.
Maybe rodgers will give you the name of it’s shrink.
Phobia? Not me Clinton. But they (SF) do moan about anything remotely British here.
Maybe next, they’ll be telling their followers not to use the RNLI until the name is changed! Maybe into Irish?
Ok pitt,mayby you don’t have a phobia,maybe it’s a fetish.
Ah well,whatever floats your boat (oh look,were back on topic)
Similar incident only occurred few weeks back. Another fella hit a navigation buoy in the early hours and was thrown from boat. Guy had made his way back to crosshaven…this was only realised after helicopter and other rescue services spent hours searching the river. Another waste…should all be made pay to cover costs!
Kind of ironic crashing into the “Titanic bar”….
As long as there is no law and people are free to do as they please there will always be reckless driving like this putting peoples lives at risk. A RIB crashing into something or someone on shore at full throttle will do the same damage as being hit by a car at speed. Makes no sense to me.
Yes because the stats highlight these incidences as common occurrences and kill many. These are not anomalies they are so common which backs up your argument more. The deaths from these ribs coming on to land killing people are monstrous. How are we going to stop these ribs coming on to land. It’s all over the news. These are definitely the thing we need to focus on, not the plethora of drug and alcohol deaths. Another thing we should be aware of is paintings falling off walls literally killing millions. What are we going to do??
The Titanic bar has 5 basements at sea level and is capable of withstanding a rib collision that breaches up to three of them. Thankfully that was the case this time around.
Big loss that big boat (Titanic) sailing out of Queenstown, too many of the natives running amok now !
There was a similar tragedy in the UK last year , the father did a sharp turn which threw himself and the whole family overboard , the boat continued going arounds in circles ( killed 2 and maimed a few more ) until brave rescuers stopped it, I think someone actually jumped onto to it to stop it, if he was wearing the kill cord the would probably all be ok … :-(
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