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Fahan teen saves man’s life 26.08.08

by Damian Dowds, Inishowen Independent

A 14 year-old Fahan boy has been hailed a hero after raising the alarm when a man got into difficulties in mud flats at Fahan Creek last Thursday.
Stephen Doherty was walking on the beach near Fahan Marina and spotted the man walking near the shoreline. “I saw him on the sandbar and knew that he was going to get stuck,” Stephen said yesterday. “I told him to stay still because if he panicked and struggled he would be sucked further down.”
The man sank to his waist in the soft sand as the tide rapidly came in around him, evoking memories of the circumstances surrounding the death of 13 year-old Brian McDaid on the Foyle near St Johnston in May.
Stephen Doherty shows where the man got into difficulty at Fahan Creek. Stephen was in the company of his young cousins, David and Gwen O’Brien, and left them on the scene as he raced off to raise the alarm. “I warned them not to go out to him in case they’d get stuck too.”
The Crana College student flagged down a South African tourist and sent him to the nearby Marina with instructions to get a rope and send the tractor.
The incident happened in a blackspot for mobile phone
coverage and Stephen tried a number of empty houses before finally getting someone at home who telephoned the emergency services.
Malin Head Marine Rescue Centre were alerted and tasked the Lough Swilly RNLI lifeboat and the Coastguard helicopter to the scene.
Stephen then ran to the home of Norman Walsh, a local man whom he knew to be a canoeist. Mr Walsh launched his canoe and carried a rope out to the stranded man. He tied the rope around the man’s waist allowing the people on the shore to pull him to safety.
“We had spring tides all last week, and the water comes in very swiftly in Fahan creek,” said Joe Joyce of the RNLI. “Stephen’s quick thinking very probably saved this man’s life.”
The lifeboat and helicopter were stood down before they arrived on the scene.
Proud mum Siobhan said that Stephen has always been very keen on watersports. “He’s good at thinking on his feet,” she said. “He loves sailing and is always reading books about the sea, so he probably learned what needed to be done from that.”
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