Wife drowned securing boat's ropes

THERE has been a most tragic end to a family’s Easter hire boat holiday when a man heard a splash in the dark and discovered his wife had fallen in and he was unable to locate her in the dark

This happened when the hire boat was moored for the night by Devenish Island at Lough Erne in Ireland, with the family of four, a man and his wife together with two young children, with the woman going out in the dark to check that the boat's ropes were secured to the jetty.

Heard a splash

The man heard a splash, rushed out but could see nothing in the dark, so jumped in the water whilst the two children were asleep inside and tried desperately to find his wife, but to no avail, so he alerted the emergency services who quickly responded.

The woman was found after about a 40 minutes search just yards from the boat, and given CPR on the jetty then rushed to hospital where she was pronounced dead.

A spokesman for the police told that the family included two children, a boy aged 13 and an a girl of 11, who remained asleep during the tragedy. The man was treated for shock.