Foyle Search confirm 50% rise in incidents

During 2016 its volunteers gave over 14,000 of hours of unpaid service to the local community.

The charity has now confirmed that over this period, Foyle Search and Rescue were involved in a total of 232 incidents which is up 50.64 per cent on the number of incidents for 2015.

A spokesperson for the charity, which is based at Prehen, has confirmed: “Volunteers rescued 21 people from the river.

“Sadly we returned the body of one person to their family.

“There were 79 instances where distressed people were taken away from river’s edge or bridges.

“We approached a further 131 people we thought may have needed our help.”

Foyle Search and Rescue was set up in 1993 in response to the number of lives lost to the River Foyle.

The charity has now confirmed that since 1993, they have rescued 350 directly from the river.

Over the past 23 years they have also helped in excess of 2,916 potentially suicidal people, and sadly recovered 129 bodies.

A spokesperson for Foyle Search and Rescue said: “This would not have been possible without the continued generosity of both the local community and statutory agencies, for which we are extremely grateful.”

Foyle Search and Rescue is widely regarded as the city’s fourth emergency service.