In the Walsh home in Kerrykeel, Co Donegal, last night there was sadness, relief, tears, shock and a quiet pride in the heroism of Davitt Walsh and also of his quick-thinking girlfriend, Stephanie Knox.
It was Davitt who saved four-month-old baby Rionaghac-Ann McGrotty; it was Stephanie who had the presence of mind to strip her off and wrap her up in her warm coat to prevent her from dying of hypothermia.
Both of them sat in the Walsh kitchen last night holding hands with Davitt’s mother Siobhán and father Billy, a local garda, and sisters Dearbhla and Aoibheann close at hand providing comfort and assurance.
“I am very shook up,” said Davitt, as he hobbled on crutches to sit down on a kitchen chair and recall a terrible few minutes in which he showed real heroism.
He suffered bad bruising and cuts to his feet and knees as a result of his efforts.
“There are a lot of mixed emotions going through my head. I was maybe being a bit too hard on myself about not being able to do more, but I did all that I could do.”
He was driving Stephanie back to her home in Derry when they decided to stop in Buncrana to enjoy a beautiful spring evening.
It was then that they saw the car in the water, having slid off the slipway at Buncrana pier
Farther out
“The car was in the water, and it just kept going farther and farther out,” said Davitt. “Stephanie said, ‘Davitt do something’, because the family were all screaming in the car. I said ‘Okay, I’m going.’ I just stripped off and headed straight for the family.”
Davitt said at that stage the car was drifting farther out. When he decided to swim to the vehicle it was “bobbing in the water” about 20m out, but when he eventually got to the car it was about 40-60m out.
Even getting down the slipway to swim out proved arduous.
“The algae was absolutely lethal. When I was heading out to the family I slipped and nearly cracked my head. On my way back holding the baby I could not get my feet again. I never experienced anything like it.
“Stephanie fell as well trying to help us. I had to be helped out of the water I was that exhausted.
“When I got to the car the engine was completely submerged and the back of the car was up in the air,” he said
“The window was half ajar. The man [Seán McGrotty] started breaking the window on the driver’s side. I said ‘everyone has to get out of the car’. He got out and sat on the edge of the window with his hand on the roof. He grabbed the baby and handed her to me. I took the baby. One of the children tried to get out as well through the back seat but he couldn’t get out.
“The father had a decision to make. He was either going to get out or go back. He looked at me and said, ‘save the baby’. And he went back into the car. And the car went down.”
Absolutely exhausted
As Davitt recalled this part of his rescue attempt his voice falters and he wells up.
“I swam backwards with the baby held up out of the water. It felt like an eternity to get back to the slipway. I was absolutely exhausted. If it was any longer I don’t think I would have made it. As I was swimming in I was talking to the baby; the baby was crying. It obviously was in distress; it was looking down on me every so often. I was saying to the baby, ‘it’s okay, I am going to get you back to shore, everything is okay.’ ”
At the pier Stephanie grabbed the baby, and wrapped her in her big camel coat. She brought her to their car and “blasted the heat on as high as possible”, said Davitt.
“I wrapped up the baby and cradled her warm,” said Stephanie. “I knew that if it was any longer in its wet clothes that after all Davitt’s hard work it could die. At first I thought the baby was dead because I could not hear it crying. But when I held it close it made a wee cough. And I said, ‘oh my God it’s alive’. And then it started crying.”
Davitt’s mother Siobhán said that Davitt “was a very spiritual” person.
“He told me he prayed as he brought the wee baby in, and he said definitely there was more than him there to help the baby. He told his sister Dearbhla he was never so frightened in his life. There were a lot of tears in this house, I can tell you.”
Asked how she felt about Davitt’s bravery, Siobhán added: “I don’t know if proud is the proper word. I feel very sad for the family. And I feel very thankful that Davitt was able to save the young baby and also that he was saved himself. He is a very brave young man.”
His father Billy said no one in the Walsh household was surprised that he would risk his life. “That’s the type of lad he is, and it’s always been the type of lad he is. I would not expect anything less from him.
“He went out to try to save everyone but sadly that did not happen.”
