Caretaker praised for "copter rescue role

A SCHOOL caretaker who became a hero of the helicopter crash at the Neptune Beach Hotel in Bettystown last month was praised for his actions at a meeting of the Meath Vocational Education Committee (VEC) last week. Brian Emmet, caretaker at Colaiste na hInse in Laytown, rushed to the aid of the helicopter pilot and an injured woman, moving them from the scene just seconds before the aircraft exploded in a fireball in September. The pilot, Bill Curry, was lucky to escape with his life when his Sikorsky helicopter helicopter came down in the car park of the hotel which is currently being used to accommodate the new second-level school, Colaiste na hInse. School had finished up an hour earlier and none of the 80 first year students was in the vicinity at the time. The pilot and three people who had been in the immediate area were taken to hospital in Drogheda where they were treated for minor injuries. School principal Anne Marie McCarrick praised Brian Emmet"s actions, saying that he got a standing ovation when he arrived into the school on Friday morning. Mr Emmet was very modest about his actions when he went to the aid of the pilot who had scrambled out of the stricken craft and got him to move before the aircraft burst into flames. 'There was no heroism. I am just delighted nobody was killed,' the caretaker said. VEC member Daniel Keane said at last week"s monthly meeting of Meath VEC that he wanted to congratulate Mr Emmet for his prompt action on the day 'which probably saved the pilot"s life'. The VEC is to send a formal letter of congratulations to him.