Davitt Walsh and girlfriend Stephanie Knox speaking about the tragic events at Buncrana Pier.. (North West Newspix)
The heroic man who saved a baby in the Donegal drowning disaster says he could have saved more people if he had been thrown a lifesaving ring.
Davitt Walsh has become an unlikely hero after jumping into the freezing waters of Lough Swilly after a jeep containing five six people slipped off Buncrana Pier on Sunday evening last.
The 28 year old former League of Ireland footballer almost managed to save another of the young boys in the car but he was dragged from his grip by the pressure of the car.
But today Davitt, from Kerrykeel, reveals how everything happened so quickly that people on the pier were left stunned by the horrendous events.
“It all happened so quickly but it was as if everything had stopped. People were on the pier and walking around but everybody seemed to be just wondering what was going on.
“I just can’t help feeling I could have done more. I honestly think I could have saved more if someone had had thrown me a life buoy or something.
“There was one on the pier but nobody used it and I don’t know why. I’ll probably never know why but I can’t help think that I could have done more or I could have saved others.
“There were people fishing and it was as if they didn’t realise what was happening. I just can’t take it all in still,” said Davitt.
The slipway at Buncrana Pier
It has now been revealed that one reason one so many people may not have helped is that many thought it was part of a training exercise.
A training exercise involving the emergency services including the RNLI and the Rescue 118 helicopter took place at the pier for a number of hours and only officially finished around 5pm.
Many of those whoo earlier took part in this training drill rushed back to the scene of the unfolding tragedy in a bid to save more lives.
But despite getting back to the pier in a matter of just minutes, it was too late.
The remains of three of the five who drowned in the car were now floating in the water and were quickly recovered.
The slipway on which the doomed Audi jeep slipped into the sea at Lough Swilly has since been closed to the public.
A full investigation into the conditions on the slipway is being carried out while Donegal County Council say they will make no further comment on the matter until that investigation is completed.
Hero Davitt Walsh’s loving girlfriend Stephanie Knox, a cardiac physiologist at Derry’s Altnagelvin Hospital, said she is so proud of her partner.
It was Stephanie who cradled little four month old Rionaghac-Ann in her coat and kept her alive after Davitt swam back to the slipway before collapsing with our exhaustion.
