A Canadian barge that has been drifting at sea for over six months has been towed in to safety in County Mayo.
The vessel broke free from its moorings over 3,000km away in Newfoundland, Canada last November.
The Ballyglass RNLI lifeboat crew brought the 26-metre-long boat to shore last night – after a local fishing vessel spotted it floating off the coast.
The RNLI crew worked for seven hours securing the barge and mooring it at a local lifeboat point – before eventually standing down at 2am.
Image: Ballyglass RNLI
Ballyglass RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager Padraic Sheeran said the callout was completely unexpected.
“You do hear of vessels and craft breaking free of moorings, but it’s unusual to have one drift thousands of kilometres and have to be rescued by lifeboat,” he said.
“On a serious note though, it represented a major navigational danger to any vessel that it collided with and it was a relief to have it safely recovered.”
Padraic Sheeran from Ballyglass Lifeboat told Midwest Radio that it is a “fairly large platform” adding “you would land a helicopter on it no problem.”
