Phil’s anguish over losing three loved ones in a year

Music legend reveals toll after tragic deaths of his brother, sister and dad

SHAUNA BANNON WARD PHIL Coulter has opened up about the devastating loss of his brother, sister and father within a year.

The Derry music legend said that he “had enough” and was sick of funerals after three close family members died.

The star, who has just turned 80, recalled how his brother Brian and sister Cyd drowned in separate incidents.

Phil told Miriam O’callaghan on her RTE Radio 1 show yesterday about his siblings’ deaths in Co Donegal.

He said: “The curious thing is they both happened in Lough Swilly.

“They were two unrelated incidents about a year apart. First was my brother, he was windsurfing. He was very confiin windsurfing and went windsurfed all around the world, but this was in the wintertime.

“He was blown out to sea and drowned.

“The sad thing is that people on the shoreline could see this windsurfer being knocked off the board. Some even called the guards, but there was no lifeboat, no boats in the water.” Phil and friends decided to campaign the

Royal National Lifeboat Institution to put a boat on Lough Swilly.

He added: “It was a very proud day when that boat went on station, that was 35 years ago.

“The last number I heard was that it has saved 70 lives.”

Less than a year later, Cyd also drowned after she went missing for two days.

Phil shared: “My sister Cyd, not even a lifedent boat could have saved her, I’m afraid.” He explained she was a counsellor for people with “drug and alcohol problems” and was called to help a patient.

Phil said: “This particular client was on a suicide trip, he was past the point of rescue, but he was determined to take her with him.

“The car was driven off the edge of the pier in Buncrana into Lough Swilly.”

Around the same time, Phil lost his dad, also called Phil.

He added: “I was kind of relieved that he had passed away before my sister, that would have killed him.

“I was kind of relieved that he wasn’t around to suffer through all that.”

ORDEAL Phil Coulter