Students rescue woman from river

Three exam students are being hailed as heroes after they rescued a woman from a river in Co Clare.

It has emerged the girls, all Junior Certificate pupils at Rice College in Ennis, were walking along Newbridge Rd when they saw a woman in difficulty in the River Fergus.

The lucky woman left the scene in a white car soon after the incident, before she could be identified.

Clare’s water safety development officer, Liam Griffin, commended the three teenagers for their prompt actions and appealed for the mystery woman to come forward.

He said: “These three young girls — Ellen McMahon, Aisling O’Sullivan, and Eve Copley — were in the right place at the right time and only for them, I believe this woman would have drowned.”

While the mystery woman left the scene, Mr Griffin has been able to piece together the circumstances of the incident, with the help of Garda CCTV footage.

“It was about 7.15 on Tuesday night when the woman in her 20s was walking a dog along Newbridge Rd near Steele’s Rock. The dog was on a lead but jumped up onto the river wall.

“In her efforts to get the dog off the wall, the lead became loose and the dog jumped into the river, apparently after the ducks.

“The woman then climbed over the wall and down the steps where she entered the water and began walking down river. As she neared the FBD offices, she realised the water was getting deeper and found herself in difficulty and struggling to stay upright.

“Ellen, Aisling, and Eve were just walking along and saw this woman in trouble and threw a nearby lifebuoy to her. The woman grabbed the buoy and the girls pulled her back towards the steps and to safety.

“The woman who was rescued left the scene in a white car. She might have been embarrassed by the incident but I would still like if she made contact. I would like to know as much detail as possible about the incident.”