The social media community has launched a campaign to grant Davitt Walsh a special Presidential award for risking his own life to help the tragic Buncrana family.
Mr. Davitt jumped into the water just off the Buncrana Pier and managed to pull a two-month old baby girl to safety. Five members of a family drowned when their car accidentally entered the water just off the pier.
Mr. Davitt swam back ashore and saved the baby’s life as the car sank.
The hero has since met with Louise Daniels the baby’s mother, who lost five members of her family in the tragic accident – her partner, Mr McGrotty, their two sons Mark (12) and Evan (8), Louise’s mother Ruth Daniels (57) and her sister Jodie Lee Daniels (14). Their funeral is to be held today.
A Facebook post calling for Mr. Davitt to receive a bravery award has garnered 44,000 likes so far, with people leaving messages of support for him.
“This man deserves the world an more!! Such a brave kind hearted person who put his own life on the line to save that little baby.”
“You should be proud of what you done and how you have given that devastated mother a reason to go on. Thank God it was you walking close by, a real life guardian angel. And your girlfriend too deserves praise for her love and affection for that baby girl. God bless you both.”
“There’s no one in this country that deserves it more than him!. His courage and bravery saved not just a small child’s life but gave a mother a reason to carry on in life.”
“I couldn’t do nothing else, the car went down instantly, the whole lot went down, and then it was just so fast and I just took the baby infant back into shore. My girlfriend was waiting at the shore, she took the baby infant off me,” Walsh said.
“I was exhausted on the pier, I just lay there in the algae.”
“I just feel really, really terrible that I couldn’t do any more for the family. It’s just an awful, awful tragedy.”