River plunge tragedy: second child dies

Updated 07.52 Wed Sep 19 2007

Keywords: children, Land Rover, river

A second child has died after a Land Rover carrying nine members of the same family plunged into a river.

The eight-year-old girl who died at Leicester's Glenfield Hospital on Monday evening is believed to be a sister of two-year-old Willow Gresham who died on Sunday following the incident.

"We just dived in, broke the window with a hammer and I set about hauling them out. They were lifeless, unconscious. I passed them to my brother-in-law, who carried them to the bank" - hero Colin Dunlop

A four-year-old girl, six-year-old boy, and a nine-year-old girl remain at Leicester Royal Infirmary in a serious condition after the car entered the River Witham, at Coningsby, Lincolnshire.

A 12-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl who were taken to Lincoln County Hospital with minor injuries have been discharged.

A 36-year-old man and a woman, aged 31, believed to be the parents of all seven children, were also in the vehicle but were not seriously injured.

Chief Inspector Mark Housley, of Lincolnshire Police, has hailed "heroic" members of the public who jumped into the water to help rescue the family.

He said on Monday: "We found members of the public who had obviously jumped in the river, which is about 30m wide and there was quite a current.

"Had it not been for them the fatalities would been much worse yesterday. They have jumped in and saved this family."

The vehicle has been recovered from the river and an investigation has begun into how the tragedy happened.

Colin Dunlop and brother-in-law Martin Lindley went to help when they spotted a man - named in newspaper reports as father-of-seven Nigel Gresham - standing on top of the vehicle with a tyre wrench calling for help.

The pair jumped into the water and smashed a rear window to rescue five of the children as a woman, reportedly their mother Sara Bolland, and her two eldest watched in horror from the bank.

Mr Dunlop said: "We just dived in, broke the window with a hammer and I set about hauling them out. They were lifeless, unconscious. I passed them to my brother-in-law, who carried them to the bank.

"The father had tried to do what he could but he was obviously in shock. After we pulled the last one out, he broke down in tears."