The Donegal Mountain Rescue Team (DMRT) has praised the crew of the Rescue 118 helicopter in helping them recover the body of a missing person on Errigal yesterday.
The deceased was finally located after a long, complex overnight search.
At 10:20pm on Friday, DMRT were tasked by An Garda Siochana to assist in the search of a missing person in the Dunlewy Area.
While on route, the team contacted Malin Head Marine Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) requesting the assistance of Rescue Helicopter 118 from their base in Sligo.
With this request, and with the help of the MRCC and Gardai, the chopper flew to the area. “The team carried out a search in the lower Dunlewy area while waiting for Rescue 118 to arrive on scene,” a DMRT spokesperson said.
“Once on the scene and with the advanced equipment on board, the helicopter and the team were able to clear a larger area. Once the area the team had of interest was searched, the helicopter was requested to search the side of Errigal.
“Again, with the helicopters advanced systems on board and night vision, they were able to locate a person on the side of Errigal and were then able to direct the DMRT to the person With the use of 118’s lighting system to light the area.A DMRT hasty team were able to locate the person and wait for the main party to arrive at the scene before their decent off the hill.”
The team was stood down at 8:38 am on Saturday morning after a long night on the mountain.
“Without the resource of Rescue 118, this would have been a much more difficult and prolonged search,” the spokesperson added.
“DMRT would like to thank all the agencies involved in last night’s search. On scene were DMRT – Garda Siochana – Rescue 118 – The National Ambulance and of course the people behind the scenes who help make the whole search happen – Malin Head Marine Rescue Coordination Centre – Sligo Airport – An Garda Siochana in various locations in Donegal and Galway and Donegal Mountain Rescue Coordinators. Without all these people working together DMRT would not be able to operate.”
The spokesperson also took the opportunity to send their condolence to the family of the deceased.
“We would like to thank the family members who were at the car park who graciously thanked us for the work we had done. This means a lot to the team members.”
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