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ONE OF THE first gardaí on the scene of the Buncrana Pier tragedy in Co Donegal has told how he had to get down on his knees to stop himself slipping because of the thick algae.
At the inquest into the five deceased today, Garda Seamus Callaghan of Buncrana Garda station described a devastating scene when he arrived on the shores of Lough Swilly on 20 March 2016.
Five members of the same family perished in the tragedy including Sean McGrotty, his sons Mark, 11, and eight-year-old Evan, his mother-in-law Ruth Daniels and her teenage daughter Jodie-Lee Tracey.
Callaghan told how when he arrived he saw a woman being given CPR.
He went down the slipway to assist but revealed “I had to get down on my knees to assist because it was just so slippy.”
The area was then sealed off and the pier was cleared to give the deceased some dignity, he added.
He then recalled how he stood and watched as the bodies of the remaining people in the jeep were taken ashore.
“Four more persons were taken from the water and blankets were placed over the bodies. Prayers were said over each of the bodies and a priest blessed the bodies,” he said.
He said he also noticed a woman nursing a baby in a car, a woman he later found out was Stephanie Knox, the girlfriend of Davitt Walsh.
Callaghan added that he also noticed empty baby milk bottles and food cartons as well as a baby bag.
“It was clear that the baby had been very well looked after,” he said.
The inquest at the Lake of Shadows Hotel in Buncrana is expected to conclude today.
Another of today’s witnesses was also one of the first on the scene.
John O’Raw, a computer science lecturer at LYIT and an RNLI volunteer who has been snorkelling for 40 years, told the coroner’s court how he tried to open the doors of the black Audi Q7 jeep after it had slipped off Buncrana Pier.
There was complete silence in the room as he recalled being the first to reach the ill-fated jeep which he estimated was three metres deep.
But he revealed, “I was unable to open the doors. The door handles were giving freely but not engaging with the locking mechanism.”
Dressed in his diving gear, with a body weight and fins on his feet and using a snorkel, O’Raw went about his investigation of the jeep.
Two other personnel were standing on the roof of the vehicle. He said the tailgate of the vehicle was open and that the driver’s window was partially smashed and inverted inwards.
O’Raw had earlier told how his RNLI pager went off at his home at 7.13pm.
He immediately rushed to the pier and was met by colleague Emmet Johnston, briefed on the situation and then he returned home to get his snorkelling gear.
He entered the water at 7.55pm to carry out his investigation which was about 40 minutes after the car first became submerged.
When cross-examined, O’Raw said he was aware of other situations on Buncrana Pier involving vehicles entering the water.
“I’m personally aware of three other incidents which have occurred there in past 17 years,” he said.
It was put to the RNLI rescuer that with the timelapse, it was a recovery mission when he entered the water to investigate the vehicle.
He said, “It’s a rescue mission until the doctor pronounces… we would always see it as an opportunity (to save someone).”
Coroner Dr Denis McCauley paid tribute on a personal level to O’Raw for his actions on the day and to his colleagues also.
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More like the floorboards creaking from the weight of the bullsh*t they were all spouting last night
Too much bending over backwards to “Good Republicans”.
Ah Diarmuid will ya ever leave off we get it you’re not a fan of SF no need to slate them on every f*cking article
Why shouldn’t he? Why don;t you call out the shinnerbots and paid SF shills on here for covering for his BS every fcuking article?
And here’s the other one who’s popping up on every article! Ye’re all equally dopey. Ye are acting like a bunch of children teasing each other. Yourself and Diarmuid have a go at Adams the SF trolls have a go at Kenny and ye all claim the moral high ground. A bunch of adults acting like a bunch of kids.
If the place wasn’t overrun with shinnerbots for the last 4 years there’d be no need for anyone to counteract them.
And if your so upset numpty, reading the comments section on political articles any not only this, but any online publication in Ireland, certainly is not the place for you.
Bit of originality wouldn’t go amiss though. Every comment is ‘good republican’ or slab or sf/ira.
how is this news and enda admitting lying about the McNulty affair is swept under the carpet.
Back pain or not Adams picked up on the Mcnulty gaffe by Enda.Theres so many fg scandals at this stage we’re losing track of them.
It wasn;t swept under the carpet. The IT and Indo ran with it in analysis
It wasn’t swept under the carpet at all, it was brought up on the afters show last night, it was on newstalk this morning, in the papers and on news sites like this.
@ luke: Just read 2 seperate analyses in the indo about the debate last night. One mentions kenny saying McNulty was NOT his call (contradicting what he said in the debate tself) and the other refers to the leader of the state revealing, live on national TV, that he misled our house of parliament as a ‘faux pas’.
Just heard the 12.30 news on the Jonathan Healy show on newstalk and it was the lead story in the bulletin.
Read them again FC.
“Miriam O’Callaghan was most effective when asking about cronyism. Kenny faltered over the appointment of John McNulty and admitted for the first time his responsibility.”
IT
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/five-takeaways-from-the-leaders-debate-1.2545950
You mentioned the indo, I checked. Can you post a link to the analysis article in the indo for us?
I thought it was the echoes of all the whingers in Enda Kennys head.
He has a pain in his back from the Indo trying to mount him. 40 minutes after the debate last night they came out with a Gerry headlined article.
Rubbish! It was “Joans handbag creaking”. She had just picked up her pension early on the way to the debate.
We sure someone didn’t forget to oil Endas brass neck ?
Why exactly is this news?
as SF supporters would say “It’s the “lamestream” media, vested interests, DOB, RTE and the universe’s attempt to make fun of our dear leader Gerry and derail the political process”.
It was the creaking of the imminent collapse of this corrupt establishment
Ha ha , I thought it was Joan Burtons gee string.
“Who is Senator Cahill?”
Was funny too. But not for Gerry.
back from carrying all that shame…
Senator Cahill. Is that the wee lass who was in the IRA who was appointed by the government to represent them by any chance?
Poor Gerry’s back. Can he not have surgery on it in the States, paid for by a benevolent sympathiser to “the cause” again?
Surgery on his back???? You dont know much about back pain do you daisy. He has had a bad back for decades.
What is so ridiculous about surgery for back pain?
Well Jane it depends on the cause of the back pain. Where is the pain coming from. (ie). Is the pain spinal? (ex) lumbar or disk. Is it upper or lower back. Or is the pain muscular? Will surgery for the pain do more good or bad longterm.
He’s just trying to droim up a bit of sympathy.
In fairness, it is a long time for anyone to be standing up, they should really be given seats. The 4 of them have a combined age of 253 after all!
I thought that the creak was coming from Miriam’s questions we had heard in previous debates. Pity that there wasn’t a live audience to judge the party leaders on their ‘last gasp’ performance.
I have seen the medical edivence, it was movement in rods up the three amigo’s backs. Spineless leaders from spineless parties.
Backsides not backs, curse you keyboard, it’s ruind.
My back is also killing me from carrying the country single handedly through this FF led recession.
Jess can we as a country not come together instead of all this crap. What would be wrong with a government being formed from all elected tds, share out cabinet posts on % ratio per party, if independents have 30% cove then their share. Make them all work for us, for our country instead of this continous tribal nonsense and one party pushing is manifesto. The best person for the job, then everybody is represents at some level and proportionally. Willingness is all that’s required, enough blaming and childish carry on
Poxy predictable text
Well said Joe. Makes a lot more sense than anything we heard last night.
It was not a sore back that prevented this poser from taking part in a TG4 leaders’ debate. His lack of fluency in Irish is only matched by his lack of fluency in English.
Can’t be as bad as the pain in a certain part of my anatomy that listening to his waffle causes!!
I too have a bad back, and people often think I am fidgeting when I am just having to move in order to try relieve some of the pain. I feel sorry for Gerry that he has to suffer from one too, people often fail to realise how bad a back injury can be and the affect it can have on a person.
Warning! Naked trampolining with a dog can lead to back problems in the over 60s.
It was Mary Lou sneaking up on him
I wonder what all the whingers will be moaning about come the weekend when we have our new government? Zzzzzzzzz
They will be saying ‘meet the new boss,same as the old boss,”
Irish govn made Maria Cahill a senator
I remember they took the McCartney sisters to the dail and White House
Why don’t our victims of abuse feuds etc all over the republic get this special treatment
Thousands suffering in silence because they aren’t worth anything in getting votes and all the rest of it
I think Miriam o Callaghan done very well last night and came across impartial. In the past she hasn’t always been able to hide her pro establishment and anti left thoughts, sometimes quite shockingly. Why can’t she behave like that all the time. She’ll get respect from all quarters if she can.
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