A SUMMER day swimming with friends quickly turned to tragedy when a 16-year-old girl was submerged in a river after her two feet became trapped under a tree trunk and she was unable to free herself, an inquest has heard.
Kayleigh Flynn (16), of Sheepmore View, Clonsilla, Dublin, was crossing the river Liffey at the top of a weir at the Strawberry Beds, Chapelizod, with her cousin Samantha Rigney on the afternoon of June 24th last, when both teenagers lost their footing and fell in.
Ms Rigney told an inquest into the teenager’s death at Dublin County Coroner’s Court yesterday that they had just reached the other side of the river and she was about to get out when Kayleigh said the current was pulling her and “grabbed” Ms Rigney’s arm.
“We were just over the other side of the river. There was a wall I grabbed onto. As I went to get out Kayleigh said the current was pulling her and she grabbed my arm. The current was too strong and we both got pulled under water.” When Ms Rigney came up she looked for Kayleigh, “but I couldn’t see her. I screamed. There were four lads shouting at me – where was my friend.”
A frantic search ensued and Ms Flynn was found submerged at the bank where she fell in, but her friends were unable to pull her out.
“It felt like she was caught on something,” said Patrick Webster, who located Ms Flynn’s body. The emergency services were contacted and members of Dublin Fire Brigade had to remove a large rock at the weir to free Ms Flynn. A postmortem found she died of drowning.
There are stones at a location at the top of the weir where people can walk across, but it can be dangerous, Garda Paul Oates of Blanchardstown Garda station told the inquest.
The two girls were making their way across and were at a large rock where the “current was much stronger”, when the tragic incident occurred. Extra water had been released earlier that day in preparation for canoe racing, which made the currents extremely strong, the court heard.
A jury of five men and three women returned a verdict of accidental death, under the direction of coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty.
They also called on the coroner to write to Fingal County Council requesting the local authority to erect a warning sign at the location and to carry out a full health and safety survey of the area, which the coroner said he would do.
The court heard that Kayleigh went to the Strawberry Beds to go swimming with a group of eight friends on June 24th.
“I was there having a laugh when I saw two girls walk across the weir. I had done it earlier and found it very strong. We shouted at the girls to come back, but they didn’t hear us,” Patrick Webster told the court.
“I saw the two girls get sucked underneath. I saw one girl come back up, who was Samantha. I didn’t see Kayleigh come back up.
“I made my way across the river straight away . . . I went to the bank where she was sucked in. I stuck my hand in and felt her hand.”
The coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty expressed his condolences to the Flynn family and to her parents, Sandra and Terence.
After the inquest, both of her grief-stricken parents said they were happy with the jury’s recommendation. Sandra said the death of her daughter was a tragic loss.