'I have lost everyone except my little girl': Heartbreak of woman whose two sons, mother, partner and sister all drowned in Irish pier tragedy - while she was on a hen do - but her baby survived

A mother who lost five members of her family when their car slipped off an Irish pier today said that her baby daughter, the only survivor of the tragedy, is her 'reason to go on'.
Louise James, 35, was apparently away at a hen party in Liverpool when her mother, teenage sister, partner and three children visited the harbour at Buncrana in County Donegal, north-west Ireland yesterday evening.
The two adults and three of the children drowned when their Audi Q7 'slipped on algae' while turning on the pier's slipway and horrified residents watched helplessly as the family in the sinking 4x4 screamed for help.
But Rionaghac-Ann, Ms James's four-month-old daughter, survived the accident after she was rescued from the water by a passer-by, who stripped off and dived into the freezing water.

Ms James has now been reunited with her baby girl, and told her priest: 'I have lost everyone, except little Rionaghac-Ann - Rionaghac-Ann is my reason to go on.'

Relatives of the victims today expressed their gratitude to the selfless bystander who saved the tiny girl as they described how they were 'numbed' by what had happened.
Three of those in the car apparently tried to swim to safety after breaking a window and climbing out, but did not make it because of the freezing water and their heavy clothes.
The group, from the Galliagh area of Derry, had crossed into Ireland to enjoy the good weather yesterday.
Mother-of-six Ruth Daniels, 57, her 15-year-old daughter Jodie-Lee, son-in-law Sean McGrotty, 46, and his two sons, 12-year-old Mark and Evan, eight, all died.

The heroic passer-by, football player Davitt Walsh, 29, was taken to hospital after the rescue and treated for shock and cuts to his feet. Witnesses said he put his own life at risk in order to save Rionaghac-Ann.
Ms James, who is the mother of Mark and Evan and the daughter of Ms Daniels, is believed to have been on a 'hen weekend' in Liverpool at the time of the tragedy - although she spoke to the others just half an hour before they died.
Eight-year-old Evan suffered from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a muscle-wasting disease which meant he could not play sport and was likely to be confined to a wheelchair.
Ms James has previously led campaigning and fundraising initiatives for the condition in a bid to improve treatment for children with DMD from Northern Ireland.

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