The family of two British siblings who drowned at a Spanish beach have told how their pleas for “'one last swim” turned to tragedy.
Ricardo Jnr and Ameiya Del Brocco, 11 and 13, were enjoying their “first big holiday abroad”, having jetted off with their parents to Salou — a coastal resort in Costa Daurada, Tarragona.
Mother Shanice and father Ricardo Snr, both 31, from Birmingham, had booked a stay with their six children at the Hotel Best Necresgo.
The four-star establishment is located just metres from the Mediterranean Sea on the popular Llarga Beach.
Ameiya, who had a passion for fashion and athletics, and Ricardo, who dreamt of becoming a YouTuber, had visited the city with their parents five years earlier.
On Tuesday evening, Ameiya and Ricardo were keen to have one last dip in the ocean, with their father agreeing to watch over them.
But after returning from the toilet, Shanice was unable to spot her husband or the two kids and panic began to develop.
Shanice's sister Macalia Del Brocco, 46, told the Daily Mail: “It was at that point the police arrived and things started happening. Then it hit what was happening. It was obviously the children that were in the water.”
Ricardo Snr having dived in to desperately try and rescue his children who had difficulty in the water.
With no lifeguards present on the beach at the time, the alarm was raised with authorities just shortly after 8.45pm and police were called to the scene.
Richardo was the softest, sweetest, gentlest boy you could wish to meet
Moments later, rescue crews recovered Ricardo Snr and Ameiya from the water, while Ricardo Jnr was rushed to hospital on a helicopter.
Despite managing to resuscitate Richardo Jnr, medical professionals were unable to save Ameiya or Ricardo Jnr.
Ricardo Jnr was described by his aunt as being the “softest, sweetest, gentlest boy you could wish to meet”, while Ameiya was known as a “second mother” to her younger siblings.
But Macalia hit out at emergency services for keeping Shanice “in the dark”, adding: “Shan wasn't allowed to see any of them even though they were in the hotel. So she's been isolated, not being told anything, but just to wait.”
Shanice was also allegedly told she was not able to see her children’s bodies until noon the next day, but was refused when the time arrived because “the paperwork wasn’t sorted”.
“They hadn't finished the autopsies and their side of logistics with forensics,' Macalia said. “Ricardo is feeling, obviously, very pained because he was in the water with them, so that's going to be hitting him hard.”
The family will now have to wait for the children’s bodies to be flown back to Britain, which Macalia explained could take up to a fortnight.
Asked about how Shanice’s four other children were feeling, Macalia said: “Hotel staff have been coming in and collecting the children and taking them down to the club and discos keep them occupied and just keep it normal holiday for them.”
Macalia recalled a conversation she had with Casius, six, the oldest of the four younger siblings, days after his siblings' deaths.
She said: “He told me: ‘Did you know Maya and Jubs are in heaven now? Juby went to heaven in a helicopter’.
Did you know Maya and Jubs are in heaven now?
“So that's his understanding of it, which is bittersweet, because that was what he saw. And it's beautiful that he thinks that's what happened, but very sadly tragic at the same time.”
A GoFundMe page set up by family friend Holly Marquis-Johnson described Ricardo Jnr and Ameiya as “beautiful, bright, and deeply loved” children who had been taken “far too soon”.
The appeal adds: “This fundraiser has been created to help ease some of the financial burden the family is now facing - covering the costs of bringing Maya and Jubs home to the UK, giving them the dignified farewell they deserve, and supporting their parents and loved ones during this incredibly painful time.”
By Friday morning, the fundraiser had reached almost £28,000 — soaring past its £15,000 target with more than 1,300 donations.
Authorities have now recorded 16 fatalities in Catalan beaches in just six weeks. Last summer, 11 deaths were reported on the same beaches.
