Car plunged off Irish pier

[Lamu]

Really awful, harrowing report just now on the bbc. A passer by managed to save a 3 month old baby.

*Shouldn't have been

No no you were quite right and I am sorry. It's not appropriate to try and analyse the incident, here, now, on a forum.

People died, sweet, innocent people and we need to remember that.

I think it's just that there is an urge to figure out how never to let it happen again, to anyone.

There is a better time and place for that though.

You've no need to apologise.

So, so awful.

I've heard this on the radio several times today and ended up in tears each one. They knew the emergency services were on their way, the water was awful apparently and the guy who rescued the baby was cut and exhausted, I guess they thought it was safer to wait for help until it was too late.

That poor poor woman having to deal with this

It's awful.

But for the man who stripped to his underwear and swam out to rescue the 4mo baby girl. I'm sure I wouldn't have had the courage.

Can we not do something practical for this poor woman? Any ideas?
Struggling to understand the enormity of her loss.

This incident is playing over and over in my head. I'm an atheist now, but I'm sort of hearing a male voice choir singing 'guide me oh thou great jehovah' - one of my late pappi's favourites. God help her.

I don't think people can't understand in a "what the hell were they thinking" sort of way, it's just that it's too horrible to comprehend so they won't allow themselves to think too deeply. And, of course, start making plans of what they'd do to make themselves less frightened.

That poor poor family, may they all rest in peace and may that woman hold that baby extra tight tonight.

There are no words. Absolutely heartbreaking.

Its just horrific, Im in NI and its been on my FB feed a lot because of local news.
I just can't imagine what was going through the poor Fathers mind. Awful. Awful.

Harrowing story.

I can't begin to imagine how that mother is feeling.

The guy who helped is truly a hero.

I read somewhere (Belfast Tel or DM) that three of them got out but the weight of their clothes and shock of the cold water meant they couldn't swim to safety. I'd don't know how true that is, but when the emergency services arrived apparently there were people in the water. The car was a seven seater, so the one/two in the back row would have also had to get past the middle bank of seats as well. Apparently the local coast guard are stationed nearby so they maybe they thought help would arrive sooner than it did.

Just a complete and utter tragedy for that woman, the family and Derry. It's only for the bravery of her partner and that one quick thinking bystander that she didn't lose her entire family.

I've just got a new car. Entirely electric. I think I might get one of these actually. I know people living in the Fens for example often carry them in their cars for exactly this reason. If something terrible and unexpected happens you don't have time to make a plan. You just need something ready to use.

I keep reading about the little girl who was saved but in my head I can't pronounce her name - does anyone know?

I think it is pronounced like Ria knock. It is just a different spelling. I have seen it spelled Rionach before.

It's like Rianna but rionna

I have one of the hammers in my car but I don't think it would've made a difference here
The hero rescuer was interviewed last night
He said the father who passed him the baby was out of the car. He went back in, presumably to try to save his other children
It's so sad

Thank you

So much heroism in this story - the swimmer and the dad. Extraordinary men.

The swimmer's interview is heartbreaking but he's surely got to be named in the Birthday Honours for that? Fits most of the criteria for a GC, ffs.

Some reports say the baby was passed out a smashed window so I assume the electrics failed and he did break the glass. He managed to get himself and 2 of the 5 others out then went back in himself before the car went under. This all happened in minutes and only the baby made it to shore.

Unimaginable tragedy

MrsHathaway I'm not sure he'd be eligible for an honour since he's not British and it didn't occur in the UK. Although the family were from N Ireland so maybe the fact that he rescued someone who is technically British might make a difference? I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud, I'm not sure how it works.

I'd love to see him honoured in some way though, it was a truly incredible thing that he did, at great risk to his own safety.

My geography is execrable. I had hazily understood that all parties were from NI and that it happened in NI.

Is there a fund of some kind for this woman and her family?

there are a couple of collections, this is one