Tributes paid today for the “bright, exuberant” girl who tragically drowned at sea on Friday.
Residents in the Aston Village area of Drogheda, Co Louth, are “hugging their children tighter” after 14-year-old Jill Amante drowned at a nearby beach on Friday.
Jill was enjoying the sunshine with two friends at Seapoint beach near Termonfeckin, Co Louth on Friday afternoon.
But while the three young people were swimming, Jill got into difficulty due to the riptide.
Rescue efforts proved unsuccessful, and Jill sadly passed away at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
Local councillor Ged Nash said the community is uniting in grief around Jill’s family following this “dreadful” tragedy.
He said: “It’s an awful thing to happen to a family. The idea that a 14-year-old girl can leave home and not come back is traumatising for everybody.
“She was described to me as the kind of girl who if you met in the corridor, she’d brighten up your day.
“She was a really exuberant, fun-loving young girl who had lots of friends.
“She was very bright and intelligent and had a really bright future ahead of her and her life has been cut so tragically short.
“It is an unspeakable tragedy and we can only imagine what the family is going through at the moment.”
He added: “She was a bright, well-respected young girl with her whole life in front of her.”
It is understood that her parents came to Ireland from Nigeria a number of years ago, and are well-respected members of the community in Drogheda.
Mr Nash said: “She went with three friends and two of them came back and she didn’t, so everybody in Drogheda is hugging their kids more tightly today.”
A number of tributes were also paid to the young woman on social media.
Emergency services were alerted to the incident on Friday afternoon shortly after 1.30pm. A massive search operation was launched and both Clogherhead and Skerries Lifeboats were involved in the operation.
The Dublin-based Rescue 116 Coastguard helicopter was also sent to the scene.
Rescue crew spotted Jill in the water and winched her on board the helicopter. She was then taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
Gardai have prepared a file for the Coroner, a spokesman confirmed today.
