Coleraine Coastguard play part in Glenshane rescue

The local Coastguard volunteers were tasked to assist the PSNI and several Mountain Rescue Teams with the emergency evacuation of up to 300 people who had been caught in drifting snow several feet deep.

The Coastguard used specialist four wheel drive vehicles to ferry up to 50 people of all ages, including at least one infant, to an agreed rendezvous point in Maghera.

From there the stranded travellers were ferried to the comfort of a local GAA Club at Gulladuff. A similar operation on the Dungiven side of the Glenshane Pass resulted in the safe recovery of many motorists to reception areas set up in leisure centres. Two landrovers from the Forest Service in Limavady also joined in this operation.

The huge operation was coordinated by PSNI and Coastguard Officers in a Silver Command Room in Maghera Police Station. It is believed that at the height of the drama up to 120 vehicles were stranded, including three buses and dozens of cars and lorries. A group of school children was among those rescued from one of the buses.

As the rescue operation was completed near dawn, Coastguard Station Officer Chris Little reflected: “This has been an exceptionally challenging incident. We can all be very proud of the emergency workers, most of them volunteers, who operated so tirelessly, in atrocious conditions, to bring this incident to such a successful conclusion.”