€8k is raised for family of tragic lough accident Ben
Man thanks neighbours who alerted him to gorse blaze 20m from mum’s house
Co Mayo scene
PALS of the heartbroken parents of a five-year-old boy who drowned this week have raised €8,000 for the distraught family.
Little Ben Duffy was playing on a small inflatable on Lough Mask on Monday when it drifted from the shore and he fell into the water.
His body was found by search and rescue crews on Tuesday morning on the northwestern section of the Co Mayo lake.
Family friends Mandy Bateman, Jo Finn, Claire Hannon and Anne Compton set up the fundraiser and said they wanted to raise some money to support the family during their grief.
A Gofundme page had yesterday received more than 300 donations, totalling €8,000.
Ben was the youngest of five children and a junior infants pupil at the local Scoil Naisiunta Tuar Mhic Eadaigh Gaelscoil.
A spokeswoman for the fundraising drive said: “Friends of the family of Ben Duffy, who tragically drowned in Lough Mask on Monday evening, have set up this campaign to support the family during this terrible time.
“The young boy had been playing with his siblings in a shallow area of the lake, when a sudden wind caused the dinghy he was on to drift.”
A HOMEOWNER has thanked neighbours who woke him in the middle of the night to alert him to a gorse fire near his mum’s house.
Residents threw stones at Tomas Flynn’s bedroom window at 1.05am on Tuesday to alert him of the dangers of rekindled flames close to the property in Co Louth.
He managed to wake his 70-year old mum up and get her out of her house until fire services arrived and brought the blaze under control after 4am.
The Flynns, who live in three houses on the one road in Rockmarshall, Jenkinstown, were all previously evacuated by emergency services at 9.30pm on Sunday as gorse fires threatened their homes and their safety and had only returned hours before this near tragedy. Tomas
Smoke blows on to road said: “I didn’t realise how bad the fires were at the time as I was in most of Sunday.
“Myself, my wife and my four children were all evacuated on Sunday night as was my mam and my brother and his family and we all were kindly offered places to stay by neighbours.
“We returned home on Monday and thankfully there was only some smoke damage to the properties. We were told it was safe to go home and that the situation was being constantly monitored.
“Luckily, neighbours further down looked out their window in the early hours of Tuesday and saw that a fire had reignited and was coming close to my mum’s house.
“They threw stones up at my bedroom window to wake me and then I was able to get down to her house and get her safely out. The fire was only about 20m from the house.
“If the neighbours hadn’t noticed and woke me, it could be a whole other story right now.
“All the neighbours have been fantastic not just with the fires but through Covid-19 and we’ve set up a Whatsapp group to keep in regular contact. I called
Girls watch blaze 999 and the emergency services came straight away and were able to contain it very quickly In all my years living here, I’ve never seen fires like this.
“I’ve some farmland here and we have had to move the dry stock as about 80% of the fences to keep them in have all been
burnt.
“I’d just like to say thanks to the fire services that came very quickly but I’d especially like to say a huge thanks to my neighbours who probably saved my mum’s life.”
Last night another alert was issued to residents to stay indoors as fire crews worked to bring a blaze in the Jenkinstown/lordship area under control.
They have been battling gorse fires in the Cooley Mountains area since Sunday.