Dramatic clifftop rescue of bride and groom-to-be

**Dramatic clifftop rescue of bride and groom-to-be**

Achill Island Coast Guard volunteers abseiled down a steep cliff to reach the couple

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

The bride and groom-to-be were lifted about 150m (490 ft) to the top of the cliff to safety because rescuers could not reach them by boat or by helicopter.

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

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

It is thought the pair are originally from overseas but live in Ireland and were visiting Achill Island, off the County Mayo coast, when the incident occurred.

McManamon said the couple had been walking along Keel Beach when the tide started coming 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."

With no way to get off the sand because of the high cliff behind them, the couple called 999 and requested 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 strength of the winds meant the crew could not assist 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.

He then sent in climbers from Achill Island Coast Guard's cliff rescue team, who abseiled down the cliff to pull 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 brought to safety in stages. The woman was taken to higher ground first while her fiance waited with "waves crashing" around his legs.

Once both were out of immediate danger, the climbers used ropes to separately haul them another 150m to the clifftop.

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

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

There, paramedics treated them before they were taken to hospital for checks, though they did not need to be admitted.

The rescue operation took the team more than seven hours

McManamon said it is never safe 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, adding that other parts of the beach are better suited for walking or swimming.

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

The role is voluntary.

Monday's rescue operation lasted more than seven hours, with his crew finally leaving the 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 it was one of the most dramatic engagement stories he had ever come across.

After celebrating his own 25th wedding anniversary earlier this month, he feels some connection with the couple - in fact Keel Beach was the setting for his own marriage proposal.

However, he was quick to note that he proposed "on the safe side of the beach".