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29th Jul 2018

46-year-old man with chest pains medically evacuated from Croagh Patrick

Kate Demolder

Four people had been treated before 11am.

A number of callouts were made on Sunday as thousands partook in the annual Reek Sunday Croagh Patrick pilgrimage.

Legions of people scale the mountain, which is nicknamed the Reek, every year for the annual pilgrimage, which takes place on the last Sunday of July.

A 12-year-old child, a 64-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman were all treated mountainside as all three developed injuries while partaking in the climb.

Mayo Mountain Rescue took to Twitter to list the callouts they had organised that day, including one man who had to be medically evacuated by the Air Corps Helicopter for treatment. He has been complaining of chest pains.

The Irish Air Corps had transported a medical tent and equipment onto the shoulder of Croagh Patrick on Saturday in preparation.

Other callouts were made to a 71-year-old woman who was dehydrated and a 54-year-old male with an ankle injury.

Mountain rescue personnel from Ireland and the UK have been in place overnight on Croagh Patrick. The Mayo Mountain Rescue crew is organising rescue efforts from its base at the back of the mountain.

The Archbishop of Tuam, Michael Neary, said mass on the mountain’s summit and made reference about the ‘rugged jagged edges’ of the Catholic Church.

“We are familiar with the way in which we have questioned our faith but we also need to be questioned by our faith.  We need that encounter as never before, as individuals and as Church.

“The questions are also of the short and medium-term:  Where? When? How? There is little patience for the questions of “Why?””

Archbishop Neary’s full homily can be read here.

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