Family to thank Polish heroes who rescued boy from dunes
Calum Fenton, from Killiney, Co Dublin, has completely recovered from the terrifying ordeal.
The rescuers, all Polish, pulled him to safety. He had been buried about 6ft under sand at Brittas Bay, in Co Wicklow, for about 12 minutes.
The men, who dug Calum out with their bare hands, did not give any contact details to emergency personnel attending the scene.
However, Calum’s father, John Fenton, made contact with the men yesterday through The John Murray Show on RTÉ Radio One.
“I knew that one of the Polish men was a paramedic and spoke very good English but they were very modest and did not want to leave their contact details for whatever reason. I wanted to contact them to thank them personally for saving Calum,” said John, who is arranging to meet the men next week.
Calum had been one of about a dozen boys who dug a hole in the base of a sand dunes near Staunton’s Caravan Park at about 4pm on Friday when it collapsed.
He was, reportedly, blue and unconscious when pulled to safety. His father said his son had fully recovered from the ordeal.
“The hole was about three foot deep and they were jumping into it and the sand dune collapsed upon Calum,” said John.
“He was buried under 6ft of sand dune for 12 minutes. The other kids ran down the beach to try and get help and four men leapt up and ran to the sand dune and started digging furiously to try and get him out.”
The boy was taken by the emergency services to Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.
John said he was not there when it happened but his wife, Gabrielle, was deeply shocked by the experience. “Calum was conscious for the first six or seven minutes because there was an air pocket under the sand. He described being stuck under the sand and hearing people trying to dig down to him.
“He lost consciousness and does not remember anything until he came around in the ambulance.”
Last May, Niamh McCarthy, 19, from Minane Bridge, Co Cork, died 24 hours after a sand dune collapsed on her on the Back Beach in the Maharees, Co Kerry.
Ms McCarthy had been holidaying with a group of friends having completed her first year at UCC.
