Irish Sea rescue after man spends 10 hours in water
- Published
An Irish Coast Guard helicopter was involved in the rescue
A man who spent 10 hours in the sea off County Louth after his inflatable dinghy collapsed is "stressed but stable" after he was rescued.
Irish broadcaster RT脡 is reporting the man, in his 40s, is from the Newry area in Northern Ireland.
He had gone out into the Irish Sea at Whitestown beach, Dundalk, on Monday 26 July.
Police alerted the RNLI at 21.45 local time and, after the coastguard heard shouting, a pilot boat found him.
He was transferred to the Beaumont Hospital in Dublin.
'Back garden toys'
The marine rescue co-ordination centre in Dublin, Kilkeel lifeboat, a rescue helicopter and a local pilot boat - the Mourne Mist - were all involved in the rescue.
The man was wearing a flotation device which, the coastguard said, was vital to his survival.
Gerard O'Flynn, the Coast Guard's head of operations, told RT脡's Morning Ireland that the man had had a narrow escape after he went out on the water on a "dreaded inflatable toy".
He appealed to the public never to use inflatable devices in open water.
They are "back garden toys and that is as far as they should go," Mr O'Flynn said.