Boy, 6, drowns on holiday in Portugal

A SIX-YEAR-OLD boy from Co Derry has drowned at his family’s holiday villa on Portugal’s Algarve coast.

His death comes just days after another young northern holiday-maker died in an accident in Spain.

Nathan Sharkey, from the village of Claudy, was pulled unconscious by his father from a water tank but died later in hospital.

Parents Martin and Kelly Sharkey had flown out to the Algarve earlier this week with twin sons Nathan and Matthew and their youngest son Christopher.

Tragedy struck as Nathan, who was a special needs pupil at a school for children with severe learning difficulties, wandered away from the family and ended up in a man-made reservoir close to where they were staying on the outskirts of Faro.

His father realised he was missing almost immediately and found the boy lying motionless at the bottom of the water. He immediately dived in to rescue his son and then desperately gave him the kiss of life on the spot until emergency services arrived to take him to hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

The death of the twin boy sent shockwaves through his local community yesterday.

A member of staff at Foyle View Special School, which Nathan attended, said neighbours and friends in the family’s home village were shocked by news of the tragedy.

“He was a bright, bubbly boy,” said Brenda Stevenson, who is also a local councillor for the SDLP in the area.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Nathan’s family at this devastating time. His death will be a huge loss to his family and the community. You can feel the raw grief in the village, everyone is absolutely devastated. There is a feeling of ‘Has this actually happened?’”

The British Foreign Office is providing assistance to the boy’s parents.

The news comes days after a 16-year-old from west Belfast died after falling from a balcony in Spain.

Padraig Burns, from Tullymore Gardens, was on holiday with friends in Benidorm when the accident happened on July 19.

Parish priest Fr Peter Carlin said the Burns family were struggling to come to terms with the tragedy.

“This is a family that is strong in faith, so they draw on their faith, they draw on their own values to support each other,” he said.

“They have met a situation beyond anyone’s limit to comfort and they have reached something deep within themselves.”