Updated 11.00

Locals rescued an infant and carried out CPR on some of the victims of last night's tragic accident in Donegal, in which five people died.

There were six people in the SUV when it went off the pier on the Inishowen Peninsula, shortly after 7 o'clock last night.

Five people - a man, woman, a girl and two boys, all members of an extended family, drowned.

A two-month-old baby, who was thrown from the vehicle and rescued by a member of the public, is being treated at Letterkenny General Hospital.

Gardaí are describing the incident as "a tragic accident".

The RNLI has said the family's Northern-registered jeep got caught in algae and simply slid into the water.

Gardaí are liasing with the PSNI. 

"Please please please, stay up"

Report locally suggest the pier may have been slippery.

One eyewitness told Newstalk he was pleading with himself, and with the car not to go down after the man in the car screamed at him to call the Coastguard before he went down.

Francis Crawford told our reporter: "I said to my wife, if those people don't get back in they are not going to be able to get back.

'Are you alright?' I shouted. "Phone the Coastguard, phone the Coastguard" the man said.

I called 999... I explained there was a desperate situation developing. That the car was bobbing in the water and that there seemed to be a family on baord.

A man came along - 'Can you swim I said?'

...He stripped down to his underwear and jumped in. He came back with the baby.

If he had had to go any further, I don't think he would have made it. They took him to hospital as well.

Please, please, please... I was pleading with myself, with the car, to stay up. I knew everyone was coming."

Francis Crawford spoke to Newstalk.com's Breakfast:

Eyewitness Francie Crawford pictured at Buncrana Pier. Picture by: Niall Carson / PA Wire/Press Association Images

 

Pier and water are magnets

Joe Joyce from the RNLI in Buncrana told Highland Radio about the rescue and recovery effort.

"What had happened was that at half tide a car had gone down on the slipway and got caught in the algae there and slid into the water.

There was a couple on scene who saw the whole accident happening, they called it into the Coastguard.

There was another person on the scene there and he stripped down to his underwear and entered the water.

An infant was passed out the window to him. His actions undoubtedly served that child's life.

He was pretty fired through in terms of the coldness of the water so he couldn't re-enter the water.

At that stage there were three bodies floating in the water.

Three of our boats launched and recovered a body each. They commenced CPR on all of those victims.

After they were brought back to shore and handed over to paramedics we went back out again.

One of our crew donned a snorkel and recovered a further two bodies from the back of the car."

Fishing crews returned to port to assist lifeboat crews and the coastguard helicopter.

Gardaí have sealed off Buncrana Pier. Picture by: Lesley-Anne McKeown / PA Wire/Press Association Images

They felt helpless

Reporter Barry White from BBC Radio Foyle was in Buncrana yesterday evening.

He says there was a real sense of shock as the scale of the tragedy began to sink in:

"I went down towards the pier and there were just dozens of people standing on the beach, and dozens of people outside the Beach Bar and restaurant.

And they were just standing there, I suppose they felt helpless." 

Gardaí are due to hold a case conference on the incident this morning.