A Co Down coastguard team assisted in the rescue of two fishermen off the Northern Ireland coast during a late night operation over the weekend.

Portaferry RNLI were paged by Belfast Coastguard at 12.10am on Saturday, 14th September, to assist two people onboard a fishing vessel which had run aground close to the entrance of Ardglass harbour.

The station's inshore lifeboat Blue Peter V was quickly launched with helm Paul Mageean and crew members Chris Adair, Ros Watret and Paddy Lowry onboard. Weather conditions at the time were a strong force 6, 24 knot wind, and rough sea state.

On arriving at Ardglass harbour, the 46ft fishing vessel was observed to be high aground and listing, and the decision was taken to bring the two crew members to safety.

On assessing the vessel's position, the crew noted there was only one safe angle of approach but that it would leave a considerable height difference between the casualty vessel and lifeboat. Taking the situation and the weather conditions and sea state at the time into account, a decision was made to request the assistance of a Coastguard helicopter.

Coastguard Helicopter Assists in Rescue

A short time later both crew members were winched onboard the Coastguard helicopter from Wales and transferred to a nearby landing site where they were met by members of Newcastle Coastguard team.

Portaferry lifeboat departed the scene at 2.05am and was recovered back to the boathouse by members of the shore crew at 2.55am.

Portaferry RNLI Helm Praises Crew and Coastguard

Speaking after the call out, Portaferry RNLI helm, Paul Mageean said: "The vessel's crew did the right thing in calling for help. The poor weather conditions and the darkness of the night made for a challenging situation but we train for scenarios like this which always help us to assess and decide upon the best option to bring those onboard to safety.

"We would like to thank our colleagues from the Coastguard who, on arrival, winched the casualties and brought them ashore.

"Everyone who responded to the pagers in Portaferry tonight are volunteers who have given their time to train for this role and respond to callouts ensuring they have the knowledge and skills to complete challenging tasks with professionalism and without delay.

"Our crew on the lifeboat tonight did their job and there were also several people waiting for us in the station - these shore crew also volunteer their time willingly to make these launches happen safely.

'We would ask everyone to be mindful of the weather and tide times before venturing out on the water. Always carry a means of calling for help and wear a suitable floatation device for your activity. If you get into difficulty or see someone else in trouble, call 999 immediately and ask for the Coastguard."