THE volunteer crew of Fenit RNLI rescued two people from a yacht which was drifting towards a cliff face yesterday near the Blasket Islands.

The  crew were enroute to their rescue mission within minutes of their pager alerts being activated at 12.20pm on Monday afternoon.

The All Weather Lifeboat carrying six crew arrived at the rescue location at 1.30pm.

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Notification was received from Valentia Coastguard that a sailing vessel, carrying two passengers had suffered engine failure and due to lack of wind was drifting towards a cliff face approximately one mile East of Sybil Point off the Blasket Islands.

Upon arrival at the scene both passengers were found to be safe and well. The lifeboat transferred a crew member on to the vessel who subsequently was tasked with attaching a tow line from the broken down yacht to the lifeboat.

In an operation taking almost three hours, the passengers of the vessel, along with the yacht, arrived safely back to Fenit Pier at approximately 5pm on Monday afternoon.

Kevin Moriarty, Coxwain, Fenit RNLI Lifeboat said; “the rescue mission went to plan exactly. We are very pleased that no medical assistance was needed during the rescue”. Kevin added “if at any time you see someone in trouble in the water or need assistance at sea, call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard”.