President leads tributes to victims of Buncrana tragedy

President Michael D Higgins has led tributes to the five people who lost their lives in what gardai say was a tragic accident yesterday.

Sean Mc Grotty, his sons Mark and Evan, Mr McGrotty's partner's mother Ruth Daniels and Ms Daniels' daughter Jodie Lee, lost their lives after their car became submerged in water off the pier in Buncrana yesterday evening.

A baby girl was rescued from the car by a passerby and is said to be doing well in hospital.

In a statement the president said his heart goes out to the families of those involved and extended his sympathies to the community.

John Mc Arthur, Life Boat Operations Manager at Lough Swilly RNLI, attended the scene yesterday evening.

He said he has never witnessed a tragedy of this scale: "It's a terrible thing to handle and that’s what we’re trained to do, but to handle it on this scale.

"And yet if we had gone to sea in a raging storm this would have all seemed natural, whereas this has happened literally on your doorstep, on the beach, in 10 or 12 feet of water and it just seems so unpredictable, unlikely, but it is just a horrendous tragedy.