Mirage proprietor Liam McKenna paddled out in his kayak to rescue a group of visitors who had become stranded in a dinghy, just weeks after going to the aid of two girls in a similar situation. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 0614170)

A CAFE owner spoke yesterday of how he thought he might have got into difficulties himself in his efforts to rescue someone else.

Mirage proprietor Liam McKenna borrowed a friend’s kayak and paddled out to a dinghy with four people in it that had been blown to the mouth of Pembroke Bay. When he reached the dinghy, he said that one of its frightened occupants grabbed his craft, tipping him into the water.

‘When they capsized me, I thought that I was in trouble too,’ he said. ‘I have two young children and another on the way and it was a place I didn’t want to be.’ Mr McKenna said the buoyancy of his life jacket had helped him as he scrambled back into the kayak. He added that the four people in the dinghy, who were all foreign and all in their 20s, were terrified.

Inflatable craft were dangerous which, was why he did not sell them at Le Mirage. The four people were in a two-man dinghy, which Mr McKenna said was crazy.

Less than three weeks ago, he was involved in rescuing two teenage girls from the same area who had suffered a similar plight.