Man drowns in Cork, Ireland river while crowd stands by
A 33-year-old man has tragically drowned in Ireland while bystanders allegedly filmed the incident instead of helping.
The victim’s mother and friend are now calling for a law to stop people from sharing such footage online.
According to The Irish Examiner, the deceased — who has been identified as Luke Hyde — and a friend had intended to swim across River Lee in Cork City on 30 April.
While his friend reached the opposite bank safely, Luke began to struggle mid-river. Despite his efforts, he disappeared beneath the water.
His friend raised the alarm, but it was too late.
Source: The Sunday World
As Luke was drowning, a crowd reportedly gathered — not to help, but to film the tragedy.
Emergency crew from Cork City Fire Brigade and the National Ambulance Service responded quickly but only managed to recover Luke’s body from the river.
Mother devastated that people filmed instead of helping her son
Luke’s mother, 76-year-old Elizabeth Hyde, expressed heartbreak over how the situation unfolded.
“It was like a circus. Them watching my son drown instead of trying to help him,” she said.
This is the second tragedy for the grieving mother, as she had lost another son, Brian, five years earlier.
Ms Hyde revealed that she learned of her son’s death after calling his phone, only for police to answer and deliver the devastating news.
She rushed to the scene and was allowed to hold Luke’s body one final time.
“I don’t even think there’s a word that could describe those people,” she said of the bystanders who chose to film the tragedy.
Friend demands law banning filming of fatal incidents
About a week after his death, Luke’s friend, Kelly Anne Peyton, has called on authorities to criminalise the act of filming and sharing footage of tragic incidents.
“There are four life buoys on each side of the quay,” she said. “And everybody stood around recording rather than throwing one of them in.”
She believes the outcome could have been different if someone had simply thrown a buoy into the river.
Source: The Irish Examiner
Kelly Anne said she could not find the videos online and hoped they had been removed.
She urged anyone who still had the clips saved on their phones to delete them out of respect for Luke’s mother.
“It’s just wrenching what went on,” she said, adding that Luke would have never hesitated to jump in and help someone in danger.
The friend who was in the water with Luke said that he had Luke’s hand, but the strong undercurrent made Luke’s weight unbearable, causing his hand to slip.
Despite Luke’s Navy training and strong swimming abilities, the undercurrent proved too powerful.
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Featured image adapted from Berita Harian via The Sunday World and The Irish Examiner.
