Hundreds attend vigil for little girl drowned in Fountainstown on her eighth birthday
Members of the Crosshaven local community turned out for a candlelight vigil in memory of Emili Roman who lost her life in a tragic accident at Fountainstown Beach, Co. Cork. Picture: David Creedon
The family of the little girl swept out to sea off Fountainstown want people to honour the "happy child" by bringing teddies and wearing bright colours at her funeral.
A friend of Emili Roman's family made the appeal to the hundreds of people who turned up in Crosshaven tonight for a candlelit vigil on what should have been her 8th birthday.
Emili’s heartbroken father Slawomir, twin brother Jeremy and older sister Inga attended the vigil, during which Inga thanked everyone present for their support.
“We are all very grateful for your support,” she said.
Afterwards, the Roman family’s friend said they know that the local community “feels what they feel” since the loss of Emili, after she was swept out to sea shortly after 4.30pm on Tuesday evening at Fountainstown beach.
She said the family will not wear black at their daughter’s funeral on Saturday, saying: “She was a very happy child.”
She said Emili’s favourite colour was pink, adding that her family want people to wear “happy colours”. The family also would like people to bring teddy bears to the funeral, to later be laid in Emili’s grave.
Emili’s remains will repose at Forde’s Funeral home in Carrigaline from 5pm to 6pm on Friday evening. She will be laid to rest on Saturday after Requiem Mass at 11.30am in the Church of Our Lady and St John in Carrigaline.
People queued to sign books of condolences while candles and flowers were also brought by hundreds of people who gathered in Crosshaven for the vigil.
Several shed tears as Emili’s twin, Jeremy, handed out tea lights to people in the crowd. Some parents hugged their children tight during the emotional vigil.
A round of applause was given for the emergency services who attended the scene in Fountainstown on Tuesday.
Among those at the vigil were members of the RNLI, Coastguard, the fire service, gardaí and the Port of Cork – including people who were involved in the rescue operation.
The alarm was raised at around 4.40pm on Tuesday evening when Emili went missing in the water at Fountainstown beach. Her body was recovered by the emergency services three hours later.
Almost €40,000 has donated online to a crowdfunding campaign on gofundme to help Emili’s family defray the funeral costs and a memorial in her honour.
The tragedy followed the death of an 80-year-old man on Curracloe beach in Wexford earlier on Tuesday.
And on August 24, 14-year-old Jack O'Sullivan died after he got in to difficulty while swimming with friends at Passage West in Cork harbour.
Four days earlier, two men - Ivan Chittenden, 64, from Toronto, Canada and Brendan Wall, 45, of Cardrath, Co Meath - died during the swim section of the Ironman event in Youghal.
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