- Appeal launched after wharf drownings
- Fiancee and family grieve dad and sons
- Odds were stacked against survival
AN appeal has been launched to help the devastated fiancee and family of a man who drowned with his two young sons off a wharf .
Dreams dies in cold dark water Family loved to fish
The victims and the heartbreak Shane O`Neill, a butcher from Kalaru near Bega on the New South Wales souith coast, dived into dark, choppy waters to try to rescue four-year-old Riley and 15-month-old Travis after they fell from the fishing wharf on Tuesday night.
All three drowned despite the efforts of lifesavers and a heroic onlooker who also dived in.
Mr O`Neill, who would have turned 29 on Saturday of next week, was to marry his long-time love Stacey Lambert in March next year.
An appeal has been started to raise funds for funeral expenses and other financial burdens resulting from the loss, south coast-based Horizon Credit Union said.
People who wish to make a donation to the O`Neill/Lambert family appeal can do so through the Horizon Credit Union or by electronic funds transfer.
Ms Lambert`s family and friends were last night rallying around her at the family home in tiny hamlet of Kalaru, on the road between Bega and Tathra.
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Donations for the Shane O`Neill Family Appeal can be made to:
Account Name: Shane O`Neill Family Appeal
BSB: 802-124 Account No: 90058
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"We are just all gutted," long-time friend Steven Meaker said yesterday.
"To lose a family, I couldn`t imagine what Stacey is going through. They have just built a house."
Meanwhile lifesavers who helped pull the three from the ocean said the odds were fatally stacked against the father and his sons once they went into the water
"They all had their shoes and clothes and everything on, so in those sort of conditions they didn`t really have much chance," Tathra lifesaver Scott Meaker told ABC.
"I`ve never been so scared in my life. I jumped in and didn`t even realise how cold the water was," fellow lifesaver Shane Rettke said.
Onlooker hero
Mr O`Neill was fishing off the wharf as Travis sat nearby in a pram held by Riley when the pram and boys tumbled into the water.
The panicked father quickly dived in, and a 37-year-old man, identified by The Sydney Morning Herald as Canberra man Robert Brown, also jumped into the water to help.
Mr Brown, a protective services officer with the Australian Federal Police, was reportedly "groaning" in the water when rescuers found him.
He was taken to hospital on Tuesday night but discharged early yesterday morning with minor injuries.
The water temperature at the time was estimated to be about 15C, with a 1.5m swell running.
Police said members of the public who wished to nominate Mr Brown for a bravery award could contact Bega police.
"He risked his life to save others and he could have had a very different outcome for himself," lifesaver Mr Rettke told the ABC.
NSW police Superintendent Mick Willing said the people involved knew each other and the tragedy had impacted on the whole community.
The reality of Tuesday night is just starting to set in for some.
"My wife came home, she dropped the kids off at school and said the (deceased) little fella was actually from my young bloke`s pre-school and that`s when it hit home," Mr Meaker said.
With AAP and The Daily Telegraph
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Peter from the Bush of Central west NSW..Gods country