A community is in shock following the drowning death of a local young boy.
Little Ben Duffy, five, was playing with siblings on a small inflatable on Lough Mask on Bank Holiday Monday, June 1, when tragedy struck.
The boy's body was found by search and rescue crews on Tuesday morning at around 8.30am on the northwestern section of the Co Mayo lake.
Following the discovery, his distraught parents Alan and Tracey were being comforted by relatives and friends in the shell-shocked south Mayo community.
Ben was the youngest of five siblings, his three brothers and one sister no doubt forever scarred by the experience they witnessed.
The Duffys, who live just yards from Lough Mask, were enjoying the glorious bank holiday sunshine when the tragedy happened.
He had been in a small dinghy playing with his siblings in the water when the inflatable drifted from the shore at Treen, Tourmakeady.
It is understood mum Tracey and dad Alan were within metres of Ben, but he was swept away on the raft and fell into the water within seconds.
A source said: “Everyone was nearby and his dad Alan and others were in the water and went after the dinghy, but he wasn’t in the dinghy when they got to it.
“If only he had managed to stay in the dinghy he would have been recovered, but sadly he fell out.”
The fact too that the tragedy happened just across the road from the Duffy family home seems unbelievably cruel – the alarm being raised at about 6.15pm on Monday.
Corrib Mask Search and Rescue team, the Coast Guard, Civil Defence, local divers and fishermen spent hours trawling the area to find the missing boy.
A Sikorsky S-92 aircraft flew from Shannon Airport at 8.12pm to Lough Mask and took over the operation until nightfall.
Meanwhile, divers from the Grainne Uaile Sub Aqua Club and local fishermen kept a continuous presence on the water, while dozens of neighbours patrolled the lakeshore.
Alan and Tracey, who were supported by relatives, stayed at Lough Mask overnight during the tortuous wait for news.
Ben was a junior infants pupil at Scoil Naisiunta Tuar Mhic Eadaigh, starting at the Gaelscoil last September.
Local parish priest, Fr John Kenny, who said the local community are devastated by the tragedy, added: “I baptised Ben and he had the biggest, loveliest eyes you ever saw in a young lad.
“I’d say he was the dote of the family, full of life and they will greatly miss him.
“Alan and Tracey and the children are a hugely popular family in this parish and very actively involved in the life of the community.
“They’d always be involved in lots of local events, particularly anything to do with fundraising for the school and anything that was focussed on GAA.
“They would be key people in the community and hugely involved in not just the fundraising but the wellbeing of the community.
“They ran the Operation Transformation (event) that we did in the community a few years ago and it had a very high profile throughout the district.
“Tracey’s family lives in England so that will add to the sense of loss for them.”
