BOY’S MIRACLE RESCUE IN LANDSLIDE DRAMA

A FATHER frantically dug his son out from under a collapsed sand bank with his bare hands following a freak accident in Kenmare on Sunday.

The 13-year-old had been digging into a rabbit burrow under the sand bank with a shovel when the entire mound of earth and sand suddenly slipped, completely covering the young lad.

But for the quick actions of his two first cousins who were with him at the time of the incident, Kenmare might now be dealing with a vastly different outcome.

They ran immediately for help, alerting the young man’s father nearby who dashed to the scene to save his young son. Again, luck was on the young lad’s side as his father chose exactly the right spot to start digging.

Neighbour and Kerry County Councillor Dan McCarthy was on the scene within minutes. He hailed the two young girls, aged just 11 and seven, as heroines for their quick actions.

The teenager is now recovering in Cork University Hospital where he was airlifted by the Coastguard. His condition was described as stable by CUH.

“He’s a very lucky lad, but for the quick actions of these two young girls it could have been a lot worse,” Cllr McCarthy told The Kerryman.

“The sand bank was no more than eight feet high, but had probably been weakened already by burrowing rabbits when it collapsed onto him. Only for his father digging in the right spot with his bare hands was he saved.”

The incident occurred in Inchimore to the north of the tourist town with emergency services, whom Cllr McCarthy described as ‘absolutely brilliant’ arriving on the scene within minutes.