A man who dived into the cold, dark waters of a Highland loch in a desperate bid to rescue two drowning toddlers has described how the water was too deep to save them.
Leia McCorrisken, three, and her two-year-old brother Seth McCorrisken died when the vehicle they were travelling in came off the road and crashed into Loch nan Druimnean, near the village of Kilmelford, in Argyll and Bute.
Jimmy McMahon, a painter and decorator from Lochgilphead, was among the first to arrive on the scene and immediately dived in to try and save the family.
But the 24-year-old father of one was forced to make the heart-wrenching decision to turn back after finding that the water was too deep for him to reach them.
He said: “I tried my best to get to the car underwater but the car was far too deep down and the water was too murky.”
A 36-year-old woman, reported to be the children’s mother Hazel, was said to have been helped out of the water in a hysterical state.
Iain MacKinnon, station officer at the Oban Coastguard, said: “We don’t really know how the car ended up in the water.
“The woman managed to get out of the car and was assisted ashore by passing motorists.
“I understand that one of the motorists tried to dive down to the car but it was too deep for him. The wee ones were in it.
“It went down very quickly. It was completely submerged when we arrived at 4.40pm.
“We believe the car is in about 40ft of water. The shelf drops quite suddenly near the shore.”
He added: “These small Highland lochs are very dark, you just can’t see anything. It would be very difficult for people to be able to get to the car and then to be able to do anything when they were at it.”
The bodies of the two children were recovered by police divers late on Wednesday night before the car was lifted from the water at 5am yesterday morning.
Flowers have been left at the scene at the scene of the accident.
