HEROISM IN THE MIDST OF HORROR
Hero describes Buncrana tragedy that claimed five lives Devastated partner ‘knew something was wrong’ Father was over drink-drive limit
THE hero who rescued a baby in the Buncrana pier tragedy has revealed his desperate efforts to save another child.
Davitt Walsh stripped to his underwear and swam in freezing water to the 4x4 that had plunged into Lough Swilly in the horrific accident in March last year. And as the car sank, father Seán McGrotty frantically handed his four-month-old baby girl Rionaghac Ann out through the broken driver’s side window to the rescuer.
Tributes were paid to Mr Walsh’s heroism at the inquest into the tragedy yesterday. A lawyer representing Mr McGrotty’s partner Louise James, who also lost her mother, sister and two little boys in the tragedy, said everyone wanted to acknowledge Mr Walsh’s ‘remarkable bravery’.
And a lawyer for Donegal County Council recognised Mr Walsh’s ‘extreme bravery’.
Mr Walsh told the inquest how he
heard children’s screams coming from the sinking vehicle as he swam out to it. He desperately tried to save the life of one of Mr McGrotty’s sons but the boy’s foot got caught in the car just seconds before it went under.
He said: ‘I saw a young boy inside the car trying to clamber out past the driver. I reached in and grabbed the wee boy, I tried to pull the wee boy out but he seemed to get stuck on something. When the driver sat on the window ledge I remember the car tilted and the water then started to gush into the car.
‘Just as I was trying to pull the wee boy out the water rushed in and I had to let go... The father climbed back into the car, looked back at me and said, “Save my baby”.’ The water gushed in and the car went under the water.
Mr Walsh added: ‘I had to let go because I was struggling as hard as I could to avoid getting sucked into the water.’
Five members of the family perished in the tragedy. They were: Seán McGrotty, 46, his sons Mark, 12, and Evan, eight, Mr McGrotty’s mother-in-law Ruth Daniels, 57, and her teenage daughter JodieLee Tracey, 14.
The inquest yesterday heard how Mr McGrotty was more than three times over the drink-driving limit.
Pathologist Dr Catríona Dillon said samples taken showed that he had a blood-alcohol level of 159 milligrammes per 100 millilitres of blood, compared to the limit of 50 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.
The inquest, which continues today, heard Ms James tell how she had been at a friend’s hen party in Liverpool but knew something was wrong the moment she got a phone call from her brother, as she waited at the airport for her flight home.
He told her there was an incident in Buncrana and that a car had gone into the water, but that he thought it contained two men. She tried to contact her partner and her sister but could not reach them. ‘I got a feeling something wasn’t right,’ she said.
Later, when she arrived in Belfast, her brother Joshua told her what happened and she went directly to a hotel in Derry, where she saw her surviving baby Rionaghac-Ann and was taken to identify the victims.
Rescue hero Mr Walsh told the inquest how he was enjoying a day out with girlfriend Stephanie Knox, having played for his soccer team Fanad United earlier that afternoon.
When they arrived at the pier they initially parked at the other end but when driving away, Ms Knox noticed a car had slipped into the water from the slipway.
Mr Walsh told more than 100 people at the inquest, at the Lake of Shadows Hotel in the seaside town of Buncrana, of the dramatic moment he went to try to rescue the family.
After grabbing the baby, and desperately trying to save the young boy, he managed to swim back to the pier with the baby held up in the air. Dry land was 25 metres away. After making it, he collapsed and the baby was handed to a woman who took her to Mr Walsh’s car to warm her up. Mr Walsh told the inquiry: ‘I collapsed on the algae. I could hardly breathe I was so tired. A man came and pulled me off the algae. I was freezing and knew I had to get warm.’
Garda Sergeant Mark Traynor told of the sense of devastation that emergency workers felt when they arrived at the scene.
He agreed that the algae was thick and very slippy on the pier and that his colleagues were very aware of this.
Solicitor for Donegal County Council, Michael Staines, said that almost every pier had algae on it.
‘The algae was very evident,’ added the sergeant.
He also said that a file had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions. However, the recommendation from the DPP was that nobody was to be prosecuted as a result of the tragedy.
One witness told the inquest that the pier was ‘treacherous to walk on, slippery as ice’.
It is thought that the family of five who perished at the pier had slipped into the water after their Audi Q7 jeep slid on heavy algae.
The inquest was told that the gate leading down to the slipway was open at the time and cars were freely allowed to enter onto it.
The only signage on the day were warnings not to swim within 15 metres of the pier. The inquest also heard that an expert report said it would have cost €400 to clear algae from the pier.
A risk assessment had not been carried out for 15 years, lawyer Keith O’Grady said.
He added: ‘In 2016 you have open access to a slipway covered in algae and in 2017 you have the slipway power-washed, cleaned, in excellent condition, and the gate closed and nobody can go down.’
The chief executive officer of Water Safety Ireland said a report into future safety at Buncrana pier should consider putting ‘slippery surface’ notices in the area.
John Leech said the area was a tourist attraction and that there was a lot of footfall in the area.
‘You may need to tell them that they could slip,’ he said. He added that there could be yellow hatched markings on the pier as well as a notice board informing people of the conditions.
He said that in his 16 years as CEO of Water Safety Ireland and his previous 21 years as a naval officer, he never came across such a situation. ‘In relation to slipways, we have literally no other records of accidents of this type apart from suicides,’ he said.
John McLaughlin, a director at Donegal County Council, said the purpose of cleaning the slipway was to facilitate a ferry which used it during the summer but not in the winter.
A 909-page report, commissioned by Donegal County Council, was carried out by Dublin-based company GDG Gavin and Doherty Geosolutions.
Mr McLaughlin, who was crossexamined at length, said that an aspect of the recommendation of the report into piers and slipways in Donegal was that people should have a self-informing attitude.
He said it cost €400 each time a pier had to be power-washed and that last year, the council spent a total of €2.2million on piers and slipways in Donegal. He added: ‘The €400 talks about removing it [algae] once but it does not say the frequency of removal, so that will be a matter for Donegal County Council, but certainly €400 seems low.’ He said that during winter the slipway was rarely used.
He said drivers using the flat section of the pier had a good view of the algae closer to the watermark. Following an investigation the intention is to keep the gates open, the inquest heard. They were installed to control boarding of the ferry, the inquest was also told.
Mr McLaughlin said the council was doing everything in its power within its budget to ensure no repeat of the tragedy.
He also outlined a number of recommendations suggested in the report. These include additional signage and more lifebuoys at Buncrana pier and slipway.
‘I could hardly breathe’ ‘Algae was very evident’