Daughter loses fight to rescue father

A woman clung desperately to save her drowning father before he was torn from her grasp by a swollen river.

Julian Hart, 73, from Dalkey in Dublin, drowned after falling into the Avoca River while on a family picnic with his daughter, Eileen, and his three grandchildren at The Meeting of the Waters beauty spot in Co Wicklow on Saturday.

He suffered a suspected heart attack and fell into the river at Thomas Moore Park.