Mum’s screams to save child’s life after Larne incident as community in ‘shock and disbelief’ and scene sealed off
A MOTHER was heard pleading with paramedics to save her daughter’s life after a fatal incident in Co Antrim.
Cops were today probing the sudden death of the young girl after being called to a “medical emergency” in Larne.
The child, believed to be seven-years-old, was rushed to hospital from the scene but could not be saved.
Neighbours said they had heard “screaming” from the Loran Avenue property around 1pm on Thursday.
Around 10 minutes later police and two ambulances arrived, followed by the air ambulance which landed nearby.
One neighbour said: “I’ll never forget the mummy’s screams and crying for the ambulance staff to get her to breathe, just awful.”
Another said the girl had been “a happy wee soul always waving when she saw me and my wee dog out the backyard.
“I just can’t get my head around it.”
Police said they were awaiting the result of a post-mortem before making any statement about the cause of death.
Throughout the day on Friday people arrived to leave flowers near the scene.
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In a statement the PSNI said: “Officers received a report on Thursday afternoon of a medical emergency involving a child at a property in the Loran Avenue area of the town.
“A child was taken to hospital, but sadly passed away.
“Until a post-mortem is completed, we will not know the cause of death and would, therefore, urge people to refrain from speculation in relation to this death.”
Local DUP councillor Andrew Clarke said: “There was a lot of shock in the local area as news filtered out.
“The impact has been pretty, pretty devastating. Here and all round the town, there’s a sense of disbelief, a sense of shock that something like that would happen in this area.
“This is a quiet area, not a lot happens which is a good thing, and then something like this out of the blue is pretty horrific.”
The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said it attended a call at a property in the area just after a call was placed at 1.07pm.
A spokesman said: “NIAS dispatched a rapid response paramedic and two emergency crews to the incident. The charity Air Ambulance, with HEMS crew on board, was also asked to attend.
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“Following assessment and initial treatment at the scene, one patient was taken by ambulance to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.”
Tragically the little girl could not be saved.
