The parents of two British children who drowned off a beach in Spain are “numb” and “holding each other up”, says a relative.
Ameiya and Ricardo Junior Parris, aged 13 and 11 respectively, died after getting into difficulty in the sea during a family holiday in Salou, near Tarragona, on Tuesday evening.
Their father, Ricardo Parris, 31, had also entered the water but was rescued alive by emergency services and taken to hospital after being pulled from the water unconscious, according to local media reports.
He was released from hospital after suffering a concussion and is waiting with the children’s mother and his partner Shanice Del-Brocco, 31, at the Hotel Best Negresco, where they were staying, for the children’s bodies to be repatriated.
Kayla Del-Brocco, Shanice’s sister, said the parents, who live in Erdington, Birmingham, and have four younger children, were unable to see the bodies until Thursday at the mortuary.
Ms Del-Brocco said: “That’s been torturing her. It’s just a complete nightmare for her. And sadly, she’s awake for this nightmare.
“She was on her own with the four little ones, with no support, apart from the wonderful hotel staff who were there trying to support her, trying to translate little bits for her, and just being absolutely like family for her.
“It’s breaking (Ricardo), if I’m honest, because he was in the water, and I know he said things to my sister like: ‘I had him, I had Joby in my arms, and we got smacked up the rocks, and that’s the last thing I remember.’
“We’ve got to wait for all the paperwork and everything to go through and the bodies to officially be released so we can repatriate them back home. I was told yesterday it could be anything from seven to 15 days.
“They are just numb. They’re holding each other up and keeping it together for the little ones at the minute; going through the motions and desperately waiting to come home now.”
Ricardo, whom Ms Del-Brocco says was the first to be rescued, was released from hospital with a “nasty concussion and some bumps and batters”.
The construction worker had taken the siblings for one final swim while Shanice, a full-time mother and former teaching assistant, had taken the rest of the children to the hotel briefly. Ms Del-Brocco said: “They’d gone out. They were being sensible. They’re very good swimmers.
“They knew it was late. However, they’d been doing this every day on holiday, so that day was no different.
“They didn’t go out far, but the current was just too strong and pulled them.”
She said a hotel worker had spotted the children struggling in the water from reception and had called for help.
When Shanice returned to the beach, the ambulances and police cars were already there and Junior was taken away in a helicopter.
Other family members flew out on Wednesday to comfort Ricardo and Shanice.
The younger siblings – Cassius, six, Cleopatra, five, Asher, three, and Exodus, almost one – have been told, said Ms Del-Brocco.
She said: “Their understanding is they have gone to Heaven, and that’s what they’ve accepted. Little Cassius told me: ‘Joby went to Heaven in a helicopter’, because that was the last image of his brother he had.”
Her cousin, Holly Marquis-Johnson, set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of repatriating the children’s bodies and helping the family which has so far raised around £30,000 – something Ms Del-Brocco described as “phenomenally overwhelming”.
The siblings, who were in Years 7 and 8 at North Birmingham Academy, were doting older siblings, Ms Del-Brocco said.
Ameiya was a talented runner who had ambitions of going to the Olympics. Ms Del-Brocco added she was “unapologetically just herself. She was driven by being unique”.
Ricardo wanted to become a famous YouTuber and “was a very, very special one-of-a-kind character”.
Via her sister, Shanice said the siblings were “hilarious, sensitive and loving – the best big brother and sister anyone could want”.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: “We are supporting the family of two British children who have died in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.”
