Stewart Dickson said: “Individual acts of heroism never cease to amaze me, as indeed does the collective fortitude of those who volunteer to serve the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) as crewmen; in this case the Larne RNLI Team.
“Whilst it was the RNLI Crew that effected the rescue of the lady and the child who had been blown out to sea in a dingy off Portmuck on Islandmagee on Sunday evening, they first picked up the swimmer who was by then in an exhausted state.
“In acknowledging his bravery I would encourage anyone seeing such an incident to contact the Emergency Services/Coastguard and allow the professionals to take control, supervise the situation and rescue those in difficulty.
“Of course there is no better place to have fun than the beach, but I appeal to everyone to be vigilant, and remember that just because it’s a nice sunny day, does not mean that it is a safe place.”
ENDS