Father battled to save drowning boys

The father of one of the two young boys who drowned in a private swimming pool tried frantically to save their lives, it emerged today.

The children - aged four and two years - died in the disused pool containing rainwater after crawling through a gap in a fence into the grounds of a large house close to their homes in the Ardaveen area of Newry, Co Down, around 5.30pm yesterday.