Paddling girl, 12, drowns as ground ‘disappears’

THE cousin of a 12-year-old Bray girl who drowned in Glendalough on Monday described yesterday how the ground just gave way under their feet as they were paddling.

Amy Healy, from Oldcourt Avenue, Bray, had been walking in the water with two friends on a youth outing when the tragedy occurred at 4.15pm.

"Myself, Amy and my friend Emma were just walking in the water and all of a sudden the ground disappeared," said Amy's cousin, Rebecca McDonagh.

"We could not stand up or feel the ground. My next door neighbour pulled me out while Emma grabbed onto someone. The group leaders tried to grab Amy but she just went down."

Sub aqua divers recovered the body of the pupil of St Patrick's Loreto Primary School, Bray, shortly before 9pm.

"She was an angel I'm going to miss her so much; we all are and we are never going to be the same," Amy's aunt, Ann Healy, said.

Amy's death was one of three drowning accidents in less than 24 hours on Monday. A family whose six-year-old daughter disappeared 28 years ago was hit by tragedy for the second time after the girl's father drowned.

Fisherman Charlie Boyle, 62, father of Ireland's longest disappeared, Mary Boyle, was taken from the water off the Donegal coast last Monday.

His widow, Ann, is being comforted by friends and relatives at their home in Keadue, near Burtonport.

The body of a 22-year-old man was also recovered from the water at Portrane Quay on the north Dublin coast at 1am yesterday morning after his friends raised the alarm.