Young girl rescued off Irish coast during Storm Kathleen

The girl was taken to hospital and treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The incident occurred off the coast of Dun Laoghaire in Dublin, when the alarm was raised just after 8.30pm on Saturday evening over a young girl needing rescuing from the water.

The Coast Guard, the RNLI, the National Ambulance Service, Dublin Fire Brigade and members of An Garda Siochana all attended the scene, where the child was pulled from the sea and treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The Dun Laoghaire Coast Guard reposted a video of the incident, saying: "Child recovered and taken to hospital. Respect the water, heed the warnings!!!"

Young girl rescued off Dun Laoghaire coast during Storm Kathleen

In a statement to JOE, a spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said: "Gardaí assisted emergency services in the rescue of a female child who had gone into the water at Dun Laoghaire harbour yesterday evening, Saturday 6th April 2024.

"The child was rescued from the water by emergency services and taken to hospital in South Dublin to be treated for non-life threatening injuries."

The rescue happened shortly after a Yellow wind warning expired for Dublin, where extremely strong winds lashed the capital's coast.

A number of bystanders attempted to enter the water to save the girl, before emergency services came to her aid.

24-year-old Luke Nolan, said that himself and a friend saw the girl in trouble when they were out for a walk on the pier.

Mr Nolan told RTÉ: "Myself and my friend, we got in on the other side of the pier and tried to grab the girl out, but she had been swept too far away, so we got a few buoyants and tried to throw them in to help the girl but unfortunately, she was too far away.

"There's nothing you can do, you feel helpless.

"We got the buoyants from the outside of the pier, and there was 4-5 of them and we tried to tie them all together and throw them in, but the conditions were that horrendous that we couldn't actually get the buoyants into the water," he said.

Video footage showed RNLI officers rescuing the girl, who is believed to be around 7 years of age.

Rescuers said that the girl's calm demeanour in the water, as well as the jacket she was wearing, helped her to survive the traumatic incident.

Read more: