A 28-YEAR-OLD man has died in hospital after he and three other men were rescued from a capsized boat on the River Shannon.
The man was submerged in water for more than two hours after a five-metre boat capsized, plunging him and the three others into the river at Castleconnell, Co Limerick, early on Thursday morning.
The three men, aged in their twenties and thirties, were being treated for hypothermia at University Hospital Limerick on Thursday night.
The alarm was raised at 4am on Thursday after the boat turned over and was caught in branches and debris near Castleconnell, about 12 miles north of Limerick city.
The rowing boat is believed to have become snagged on debris and broken pieces of tree and branches which built up around semi-submerged fishing platforms during winter floods.
The boat is thought to have been pinned against a blocked platform by the force of water and the men were trapped in among the debris.
The Irish Coast Guard in Valentia took a 999 call at 4.17am with the first reports of four people stuck in the water near the boat club in Castleconnell.
John Draper, divisional co-ordinator, said Killaloe Coast Guard Unit, a rescue helicopter, the Limerick Fire Service and the Limerick Rescue boat crew were all sent to the scene.
"They were able to extract the casualties but not without difficulty," Mr Draper said.
"The operation took about three hours and some of the casualties would have been in the water two to three hours."
