A 13-YEAR-OLD boy drowned yesterday after getting into difficulty while swimming with a group of friends on the river Suir in Co Tipperary.
Dean Byrne, from Cashel Co Tipperary, was with two friends on the river outside the town when he got into trouble and was swept away by the current.
Despite a search operation by local emergency services and the rescue helicopter based in Waterford – whose crew found the boy when they got to the scene – he was pronounced dead after he had been brought to Waterford Regional Hospital.
His parents Liam and Shirley Byrne, of Oliver Plunkett Park, Cashel, were last night being comforted by relatives and friends.
“They’re a very respectable family, very well-known in the area and this is a terrible tragedy,” said a local man.
The boy’s grandfather, Eddie Ryan, is an ambulance driver and also widely respected throughout the town. It is understood Dean had just finished first year at Cashel Community School.
The incident occurred after 4pm yesterday as the friends were enjoying the sunny weather in the river in an area known as Castle Lake, about three miles from the centre of Cashel. The scene is on the Golden road from the town, and is sometimes used for bathing by young people.
Once it became clear the teenager was in difficulty, his friends raised the alarm and the air ambulance service in Wexford notified the Coast Guard, who tasked the helicopter to travel to the scene.
Gardaí in Thurles also requested the help of the search and rescue helicopter. Emergency services from around the area helped with the operation. The Coast Guard helicopter crew spotted the teenager almost immediately on arrival at the the stretch of Suir and brought him from the scene to Waterford but to no avail.