A swimmer was brought to hospital after being rescued from a lake in the Comeragh mountains yesterday.
He got into trouble at Lough Mohra near Rathgormack at 13:48 on Saturday afternoon.
The person was recovered from the lake by a friend with the support of onlookers.
He was not breathing originally but came to and started coughing up water after another friend provided essential emergency first aid.
SEMRA were called to a serious incident at Lough Mohra. Casualty was recovered from the lake by onlookers and needed urgent first aid. @GardaTraffic, @SE_Mount_Rescue & @R117Waterford responded. Casualty was winched into the R117 helicopter & airlifted to hospital. pic.twitter.com/n35bRB48WK
— SE Mountain Rescue (@SE_Mount_Rescue) August 28, 2021
An Garda Siochana, SEMRA and Coast Guard Helicopter R117 urgently responded to the scene.
After initial assessment, the casualty was winched into the R117 helicopter by the Coastguard crew and was airlifted to University Hospital Waterford.
Spokesperson for the volunteer rescue organisation Chris Pires says the situation was life or death:
"It was potentially a life or death situation but fortunately for the swimmer their friends were nearby and got them out and performed emergency first aid on them."
Chris says it was crucial that the swimmer had people around who acted quickly to save his life.
SEMRA’s team doctor also assessed and treated the other people at the scene that had earlier entered the water to provide assistance to the casualty.
