The distraught family of a young Limerick man who drowned in a jet ski accident has revealed how bystanders filmed his struggle for life and posted his final moments on social media.
Sandra Byrnes, 19, the foster mother of Wasiu Leon, Iowa, organized a fundraiser for the Killaloe Coast Guard and diving teams in the hope that it could help save lives, reports The Mirror.
Speaking to the Limerick Post about the tragedy that rocked the young man’s family, Sandra said they were “stunned” to see footage posted on social media of Vasya struggling in the water in the days after the tragedy.
“What kind of person films someone drowning instead of doing something? Or even throwing a lifebuoy? And then to share that on social media? Did they even think how that would make his family feel?”, reports The Mirror..
On the day of the accident, Sandra said she was working as a health care assistant at the HSE when Wasiu called and asked if he could pick up the jet ski keys that were in her car.
“He wasn’t meant to go out on the water that day. We were planning to bring the jet ski up to the coast at the weekend and there were a lot of complications about how he was going to get the ski to Killaloe. I told him I had a bad feeling about it and asked him to wait, but he was just impatient to have another go. The last words I spoke to him were to tell him to stay safe. A few hours later, he was dead,” reports The Mirror.
The Limerick FC and Pike Rovers footballer and genius Wasiu “loved his football. If his team were scoring a goal, nothing else in the world mattered,” reports The Mirror.
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