Dramatic clifftop rescue of bride and groom-to-be

A couple who went for a beach walk shortly after getting engaged had to be rescued by the Irish Coast Guard after an incoming tide trapped them against a coastal cliff.

The bride and groom-to-be were hauled approximately 150m (490 ft) to the top of the cliff to safety because rescuers could not reach them by boat nor by helicopter.

The dramatic rescue took place during gale-force winds on Achill Island, off the west coast of Ireland, on Monday afternoon.

Coast Guard volunteer Peter McManamon, who coordinated the operation, told BBC News NI: "They were two very lucky people."

It is believed the pair are originally from overseas but live in Ireland and were on a visit to Achill Island, off the County Mayo coast, when the incident happened.

McManamon said the couple had gone for a walk along Keel Beach when the tide began to come in behind them - at one point reaching above knee-level.

"They got engaged in Achill and they were just walking along [the beach] and they went out too far on the rocks," he explained.

"The weather conditions were atrocious there, and in that particular area the tide has come in very quick."

Unable to get off the sand because of the towering cliff behind them, the couple called 999 and asked for a coast guard rescue.

"It was too rough for a rib (rigid inflatable boat) to be tasked - it was blowing Force 8 to 10 at the time and the wave conditions wouldn't let us," McManamon said.

"We tried to walk out along the rocks to them but... the waves were just coming in and it was just too dangerous to put the crew in, so the helicopter was tasked."

Coast Guard helicopter R118, based in County Sligo, flew to the scene but the force of the winds meant its crew were unable to help the stranded couple.

"When the helicopter came, they tried to move in to winch them but there was too much down draft off the mountain for it to happen," McManamon explained.

So he then deployed climbers from Achill Island Coast Guard's cliff rescue team who abseiled down the cliff to pluck the couple out of the rising tide.

"The water was coming in around them - the water was roughly just above their knees," McManamon recalled.

The couple were taken to safety in stages. The woman was brought to higher ground first while her fiance waited with "waves crashing" around his legs.

Once they were both out of immediate risk, the climbers used ropes to separately haul both casualties a further 150m to the clifftop.

"They were very cold - hypothermia was beginning to set in," McManamon said.

However, the remote beauty spot could not be reached by vehicle so the casualties then faced a 2km (1.2 mile) walk down the hill to a waiting ambulance.

There, they were treated by paramedics before being taken to hospital for checks, but they did not need to be admitted.

McManamon said it is never a safe decision to walk along coastal cliffs in such weather conditions.

"It can be a dangerous spot, the locals don't really go near it at all," he said, explaining that other parts of the beach are more suitable for walking or swimming.

McManamon has been a member of the Irish Coast Guard for 20 years, the last seven of which he has spent at "officer in charge" at Achill Island Coast Guard Unit.

Monday's rescue operation took more than seven hours, with his crew finally leaving cliff at about 21:30 local time.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to them [the couple] properly, I was too busy organising my own team," McManamon said.

"We were that wet and hungry, we just wanted to get tidied up and get our equipment back and to get to our own homes and families."

McManamon agreed that it was one of the most dramatic engagement stories that he had come across.

Having celebrated his own 25th wedding anniversary earlier this month, he has some affinity with the couple - in fact Keel Beach was the setting for his own marriage proposal.

However, he was quick to point out that he popped the question "on the safe side of the beach".

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