A report into the death of a 14 year old girl after she fell from a rescue helicopter while being winched from the sea says the crewman followed the only course of action available to him.

The girl who was unconscious when she was taken from the sea, slipped out of her harness and fell 45 feet into the water.

In December 2015 a group of adventure scouts were on a trip to Hook Head in Co Wexford when four members of their party were swept into the sea.

Two of the four managed to climb to safety. But a 14 year old girl who was knocked unconscious was being kept afloat in the water by a 15 year old boy.

9 minutes after the initial 999 call was placed the Coastguard helicopter, Rescue 116 was at the scene - one minute later again a crewman was winched to the water. He told Air Accident Investigators he was concerned if he winched the teenagers to the helicopter one at a time - the other would not be able to stay afloat until he returned, so he decided to lift both the teenagers simultaneously.

They were placed in separate harnesses and secured but on the way up the girl slipped from her rescue strop and fell approximately 45 metres into open water.

She was immediately recovered from the sea and transferred to hospital but died a number of days later.

The Air Accident Report into the tragedy finds the winchman made a reasonable decision given the imminent risk to life and the time pressure he was under.

The report found the fact that the 14 year old girl was unconcscious prior to winching was a contributory cause to the accident.

The Investigation also acknowledged the exceptional effort made by the 15 year old boy in keeping the girl float, despite the immediate and significant risk to his well-being.