Ten people were rescued from a boat on the River Shannon in Co Clare late night while two others were plucked from the freezing waters after the overladen vessel on which they were partying began to take on water.
It is believed that tragedy was only narrowly averted by the quick response of the emergency services who managed to reach the scene within minutes of the alarm being raised.
It is understood that 12 male adults, who had been attending a party at a house close to the shoreline, 'took to the water' in darkness and got into difficulty.
The 22 foot long speedboat, which was only rated to carry ten persons or 820kgs, was almost 3 kms south of the bridge at Killaloe and about 500 metres from the shore when it began to take on water.
There were 12 people, all men in their 20's', on board and it is thought that the boat began filling with water because it was overloaded. Thinking the boat was sinking, two of the occupants jumped in to the freezing water and tried to swim ashore.
Several attempts were made to seek assistance by calling members of the public however as the incident grew progressively more serious, the emergency services were eventually contacted directly.
Killaloe Coast Guard spokesman Michael Quigley said: "12 lives were saved on Friday night, there is no doubt about that. So much could have gone wrong. Firstly, the lake and river are not for night navigation. The water markers you see during the day are not illuminated at night and when someone gets in trouble, they should only ring 999 or 112 and not a member of the public or individual Coast Guard members. This only wastes time and can cost lives".
Rescuers also found an amount of litter, mostly alcohol cans and bottles, in the area around the boat. Most of those on board are understood to have been wearing life jackets however these are thought to have been 'mostly inadequate'.
"Most were badly fitting or not tied up at all," according to one rescuer. "That's not good enough at all. The boat should not have been out on the lake at night. It shouldn't have been overloaded and they should not have been drinking. They were very lucky".
