AN investigation has been launched after a mother and her 11-year-old daughter went overboard from a ferry at Belfast Harbour.
The woman and child were rescued on Thursday after entering the water as the Stena Horizon ferry, which was arriving from Liverpool, approached the dock at around 6.45pm.
A rescue boat from another Stena Line ferry that was in the harbour at the time, the Stena Superfast VII, was the first to reach them, and crew members managed to pull them to safety.
The woman and child were assessed at the scene by paramedics.
The girl was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Belfast and the woman to the RVH’s emergency department.
In a statement on Thursday, the ferry company said that Stena Line "deployed emergency response crews from the Stena Horizon and Stena Superfast VIII which was in the vicinity at the time.
"Two persons were retrieved from the water and were attended to by local emergency service crews waiting on the dockside in Belfast.
"Stena Line has informed all relevant authorities of the incident and is currently assisting with the various investigations now under way."
Belfast Harbour Police said they were investigating.
"Both females were safely recovered from the water and taken to hospital by emergency services," a spokesman said.
The PSNI also said the "full circumstances of the incident are still being established."
