A MAN has told how he dived into a remote loch in a desperate bid to reach two young children trapped in a car which had plunged into the water.
READ MORE: Police name two young children killed in Oban car crash
Leia McCorrisken, three, and her two-year-old brother Seth McCorrisken died when the vehicle they were travelling in came off the road and crashed into Loch nan Druimnean, near the village of Kilmelford, in Argyll and Bute.
Reports have described how some passing motorists went into the water in an attempt to assist.
A 36-year-old woman, reported to be the children's mother Hazel, was said to have been helped out of the water in a hysterical state.
One passer-by on the A816 Oban to Lochgilphead road told the Press And Journal he was one of the first on the scene following the crash at around 4pm on Wednesday.
Painter and decorator Jimmy McMahon, 24, from Lochgilphead, told the newspaper: "We arrived about 10 minutes after the car had hit the water.
READ MORE: Police name two young children killed in Oban car crash
"I tried my best to get to the car underwater but the car was far too deep down and the water was too murky."
The incident sparked a major response involving all the emergency services, including a Coastguard helicopter and police dive teams.
The bodies of the children, from the Argyll area, were later recovered from the water.
Police inquiries are continuing to establish the exact circumstances of the incident.
Argyll and Bute SNP MSP Mike Russell said the incident has shaken people locally.
He said: ''I think everybody is just completely stunned. It is a horrific thing to have happened, nothing worse could be imagined for a family.
''I think there's a general sense of shock both in the local community and more widely in Argyll.
''It is a bad piece of road, it's a difficult piece of road, and the weather was very bad."
READ MORE: Police name two young children killed in Oban car crash
Nigel Mitchell, chair of Kilninver and Kilmelford Community Council, said he has known of at least four fatalities on that stretch of road in the 10 years he has lived in the area.
Roddy McCuish, chairman of the Oban, Lorn and the Isles Area Committee, said: "On behalf of the local community, our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with everyone affected by this very tragic situation."
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact the divisional road policing unit at Campbeltown on 101.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article