“We keep looking, saying ‘she’s going to wake up… and say boo’.”
The family of the late Dara Fitzpatrick have paid an emotional tribute to her on RTÉ News following her tragic passing during a rescue mission off the coast of Mayo on Tuesday.
Dara’s sister Niamh, who had earlier spoken fondly of her sister on Morning Ireland, was joined by her parents, John and Mary, for an interview with Teresa Mannion outside Castlebar Hospital earlier today.
Describing Dara’s loss as “horrendous”, “absolutely awful” and “a living nightmare”, Dara’s family spoke of their shock at her death and how close they were as a family.
Dara was described as “beautiful, inside and out” and her mother, Mary, pledged to raise her adopted son, Fionn, “as Dara would have wanted”.
Family pays tribute to Captain Dara Fitzpatrick, who died in the Coast Guard helicopter crash off the Mayo coast pic.twitter.com/VB82suVRAX
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 15, 2017
As a family we are grateful for the opportunity to say a few words about the type of person Dara was. @TeresaMannion, @rtenews thank you. https://t.co/O3bJ4NCXC3
— Niamh Fitzpatrick (@NFitzPsychology) March 15, 2017
The Fitzpatricks sought to thank everybody involved in the search mission and offered their prayers for Dara’s three colleagues, who have yet to be found.
Earlier on Wednesday afternoon, a signal was detected from the helicopter black box near Blackrock lighthouse off the coast of Mayo, described as a “significant development” in the effort to find Captain Mark Duffy and winchmen Paul Ormsby and Ciarán Smith.
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