Irish Woman Dies In US Lake

An Irish woman has drowned in a US lake whilst on a camping holiday.

Anita O'Donnell, 32, who moved to Boston several years ago, was taking a break with friends when she got into difficulty wading in an area of the lake estimated to be seven feet deep when she called out that she could not swim.

A man pulled her from the water and onlookers tried for 15 minutes to save her life.

Emergency crews arrived at the beach and took Ms O'Donnell to Memorial Hospital in nearby North Conway where she was pronounced dead.

Her removal is taking place in the US today with her funeral Mass tomorrow before her remains are flown home for burial in Limerick next week.

Ms O'Donnell, from Larkin's Cross, Corbally, Limerick, was working as a bar manager in the US. She leaves her parents, Christopher and Marie, her sister Nicola, and brother Mark.

The death is on the heels of a series of accidental deaths of Irish holiday makers abroad.

Keith Murphy, 20, from Donomore Crescent in Tallaght, also drowned in a hotel swimming pool in the Canary Islands in May. It has been revealed Mr Murphy died from shock after jumping into a cold swimming pool.

Young soldier Aidan Holly, 23, from Tarbert in North Kerry, also died this week after plunging from a wall at the famous bull-running festival in Pamplona.

Brian Farrelly, 20, from Drimnagh in Dublin drowned after jumping into the pool at his two-star hotel in the party resort of San Antonio, in Ibiza.

While on June 30, Andrew Hanlon, 20, from Dundrum in Dublin, was shot dead by a US police officer in Silverton, Oregon who was responding to a call about a house break-in. The victim was said to have been in a 'distressed state' and trying to wake his sister by banging on her front door at the time.

(DW)