An Irish grandmother has spoken of her pride and relief after he daughter and grandchildren were involved in a miraculous rescue off the coast of western Australia. Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1, grandmother Doreen Cunningham said: “It was a long, long time; it was four hours. “She was sure that he had drowned, but she kept going and kept trying and kept the other two talking and singing and praying, of course.”Ms Cunningham, whose grandchildren call her “Mama Doreen”, added: “I think that Austin’s brilliant, and I think the world of him. “We had no food, no water, we were in plenty of water but we couldn’t drink that,” she said. “We fell in [to the water] so many times, the waves were so high and those kids just kept holding on.

Source: Irish Independent February 04, 2026 14:07 UTC