Bodies recovered after river plunge tragedy
The search for a mother and her young daughter ended tonight when their bodies were discovered one mile from where their car plunged into a heavily flooded Cork river.
Their four-wheel drive swerved off a mountain road into the Coomhola River near Bantry, Co Cork in treacherous weather conditions at around 3.30pm this afternoon.
A full-scale emergency operation was launched but harsh conditions hindered rescue teams.
The three-year-old girl was eventually found tangled in the undergrowth and rushed to Bantry hospital, where she died a short time later.
Her mother, aged in her mid 30s, was located shortly afterwards but had already died.
A second child, her six-year-old son, managed to escape from the car as it left the road and had raised the alarm. He was later said to be “shocked and traumatised” but safe.
Their vehicle was found semi-submerged around 100m downstream from where it left the road.
Conditions at the time of the accident were horrific and extremely dangerous after several days of heavy rain. Gardai said the river had been turned into a “raging torrent.”
A Bantry Inshore Search and Rescue Association spokesman said: “The weather here at the moment isn’t too bad but it’s the weather over the last few days that caused the problems.
“The rain was coming down off the hills and the river came out on to the road in a number of places.” A coastguard helicopter flew from Shannon to assist, but later returned.
The mother and daughter have not yet been identified. Post mortems will take place tomorrow morning.
In January, the Coomhola River claimed the life of an eight-year-old boy.
His father, who was working on a turbine in the river, noticed he was missing and later found his body in the water.
