Dramatic rescue on River Shannon as pontoon breaks away
Corbally boatman Pat Lysaght goes after the renegade pontoon which floated down river this Monday, December 5, 2011
CORBALLY boatman Pat Lysaght dramatically stopped a 64 tonne concrete breakwater from escaping down the River Shannon yesterday afternoon.
Lysaght raced after the breakwater, which had become free from where it was moored near Sarsfield House, with the 40 foot long structure rapidly flowing down river as shocked spectators watched it flow by Howleys Quay and under Shannon Bridge.
Mr Lysaght managed to get a rope on the slab and tow it to one side of the river, with the help of Limerick Marine Search and Rescue, who were called by the Gardai to assist him.
“I caught it at the Clarion and I towed it over to the Cleave’s Bank side and tied it onto some trees there. The rescue came along and gave me a hand,” said Pat.
“We don’t know whether it was vandalism or not, the ropes were all broken anyway.”
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Weather for Limerick
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 23 mph
Wind direction: South east
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Temperature: 13 C to 22 C
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Johnny7
Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 11:47 PMPat's a brave man,this pontoon was moving at a rate of nauts.Thought I might have got a namecheck for submitting this pic.
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