A volunteer lifeboat crewmember is recovering after suffering an injury during a rescue in severe weather conditions yesterday.

The Portrush Lifeboat Station has released footage of its lifeboat battling through high winds and rough seas to rescue five fishermen north of Fanad Head in County Donegal.

The Irish crab fisher sent a Mayday distress call after is engines lost power at around 2pm yesterday.

The severe weather had smashed in the trawler’s wheelhouse windows and lifeboats from Lough Swilly, Arranmore and Portrush responded.

The rescue volunteers managed to reach the boat and towed it back to Rathmullen, where it docked safely at 4am this morning.

Lough Swilly Lifeboat's Joe Joyce said conditions were incredibly tough.

“The Coast Guard were predicting swells of about 10 metres but the waves were a lot bigger than that,” he said.

“Our boat is 13 metres and we were climbing up them, they were breaking at the top, they would crash away and you would be left in mid air before crashing back down into it.

“It was a particularly difficult journey out there.

“Then of course you have the wind to contend with; it was gusting nearly 60 miles an hour out there so it was really, really not a pleasant place to be.”

One Portrush crewmember injured tendons in his ankle and knee during the operation and was taken to hospital for treatment.