Brave Emily gets award for helping to save little sister

“I MEAN Isobel was screaming to me ‘Mummy I’m drowning, help me’ – words that no parent ever wants to hear their child say when they are helpless to do anything.”

These were the words of Siobhán Luff, who looked on in horror as her two daughters, Emily, 12, and Isobel, eight, were dragged out on a rip-tide in September 2008 at Spanish Point, Co Clare.

Yesterday, her daughter Emily was one of 16 people who received special awards from Irish Water Safety for saving 17 lives at sea. A total of 158 drownings occurred in Ireland last year.