The chief crewman at the Coast Guard’s Rescue 118 base in Strandhill, Co Sligo, finishes his last shift there today this lunchtime.
Mick Treacy has been with Rescue 118 for the past nine years.
Before that, he was with Rescue 117 in Waterford.
Mick Treacy’s last shift on the job at his Sligo base last night was a busy one, involving four rescue missions.
One lasted throughout the night; it involved airlifting a seriously injured crewman from a trawler 600 kilometres off the Mayo coast.
The crew man was taken to Sligo Airport at Strandhill and from there to Sligo University Hospital.
Mick is now going to Rescue 116 in Dublin, where, as he told Ocean FM today, he will be replacing one of the crew who lost their life in the tragedy at Black Rock Island, off the North Mayo coast last March.
As he prepares to leave Sligo, Mick paid tribute to all the others in the rescue agencies and organisations in the north west, as well as all those who helped him and made him welcome in the region.
