River death ‘was waiting to happen’

A young boy who was rescued from a flooded river lost his battle for life last night.

James Casey Butler, aged 7, from Forrest Hill in Midleton, Co Cork, died in Crumlin Children’s Hospital in Dublin after his mother, Edel, made the agonising decision to switch off his life-support machine.

Little James was airlifted from Cork University Hospital to Crumlin just hours after the tragic accident in East Cork’s Owenacurra river on Saturday.