ONE young boy was dead and a second "extremely critical" in a Dublin hospital last night, after a swimming tragedy earlier in the day in the city's Grand Canal.
The accident happened at the Ninth Lock near Clondalkin around lunchtime.
The boy who died last night, Jason Ryan (11), got into difficulty after jumping into the lock. His friend, Keith Mahon (13), then dived in fully clothed to help him, but was dragged down.
Another friend, Thomas Sweeney (12), described seeing the two go under. "Jason was shouting: I'm drowning, I'm drowning. Keith grabbed his arm, and Jason just pulled him down."
Gardai from Clondalkin arrived at the scene at around 1.30 p.m. A unit of the brigade and an ambulance were at the canal some minutes later, but rescuers had difficulty getting the boys out.
One eyewitness said the younger boy appeared to have become entangled in an old shopping trolley, which had to be removed from the water before he could be freed.
Cardiac ambulances were also called to the scene and emergency personnel attempted to resuscitate the boys before transferring them to Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin.
Jason Ryan could not swim, according to Thomas Sweeney, but it was common for boys who couldn't swim to jump from one wall to the other: "He just jumped in and went straight down."
He was pronounced dead shortly after 7 p.m. Keith Mahon's condition was described as "extremely critical" by a hospital spokeswoman.
His family, near neighbours of the Ryans in Glenfield Grove, Clondalkin, were at the hospital last night.
The rusting shopping trolley, one of many pieces of debris in this stretch of the canal, was lying on the canal bank yesterday evening.
Mr Dominic Dillon, the owner of a nearby filling station and shop, said everything from trolleys to cars were dumped in the canal and added the tragedy was an "accident waiting to happen".
"The kids are always up there when the weather's good. And you can't leave lifebuoys out because they just bet vandalised."
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