Surfer on her way to safety thanks to Coast Guard and RNLI

A female surfer is in the process of being brought back to safety by the RNLI lifeboat crew.

Valentia Coast Guard confirmed that they received a call for assistance at 2.40pm this afternoon.

The Rescue 115 helicopter out of Shannon was dispatched and it did several sweeps of the coastline off Long Strand at Castlefreke.

As part of the search, Castlefreke Coast Guard was engaged, while the RNLI lifeboat crew at Union Hall made their way to Long Strand.

They crew on board the helicopter spotted the surfer at 3.28pm. The surfer was taken safely aboard the lifeboat and is currently on her way back to dry land.

The Coast Guard confirmed it was also assisted by a fishing vessel, nicely named Fragrant Cloud.