The heartbroken father of an eight-year-old boy who drowned on a Co Sligo beach almost a year ago has said he still sleeps in his son’s bed and hugs and kisses his photo.
IqbalJeet “Indy” Singh said he would never forget his son Alan: “His birthday is coming up as well. I’m still sleeping in his bed. I take his picture and hug and kiss him.”
Singh was speaking after a coroner warned that constant close supervision is “essential at all times” with young children at the beach, even in “seemingly calm conditions”.
Coroner for Sligo-Leitrim Fergal Kelly returned a verdict of accidental death at the inquest of Alan Singh, of Main Street, Ballisodare, Co Sligo, who drowned after suddenly getting out of his depth while playing at Lissadell beach on May 17th, 2025.
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The inquest heard evidence of desperate attempts to resuscitate the boy by beachgoers and paramedics on the beach after he was found floating face down about 600m from the shore.
Alan, who could not swim, and his older sister, Aisha, were being looked after by the mother of one of his friends, Ina Jokubauskiene, while Singh was in London.
Sgt Derek Butler read out a deposition from Jokubauskiene in which she said she and her husband and son (8) and the two Singh children arrived at Lissadell beach between 2pm and 3pm. The tide was fully out and they walked out to the shallows looking for shells.
After 3pm Jokubauskiene returned to their tent on the beach, leaving her son and Alan playing at the water’s edge. She said she warned them not to go out far. She said she used her phone’s camera to check them.
Jokubauskiene said that after a while her son ran back saying “Alan is gone”. She ran out and noticed it got “very deep, very fast”. She saw Alan floating 20m further out and called to some nearby children on bodyboards to bring him in.
A 12-year-old boy waded out up to his shoulders, grabbed Alan and pulled him in. Jokubauskiene then placed him on a bodyboard and began pulling him towards the beach.
The 12-year-old boy’s mother, Anna Zawada, testified that the distance between the shore and the water’s edge was a four- to five-minute walk. She saw a woman 400m away pulling a small boy towards the shore and ran out to them. She said the boy was not breathing or responding so she began cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Another parent on the beach, Amy Kelly, said the boy looked “lifeless” and she rang the emergency services at 3.24pm, while Zawada continued CPR and Jokubauskiene did mouth to mouth.
The Rescue 118 helicopter landed on the beach at 3.33pm and airlifted the child to Sligo University Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4.30pm. Singh, accompanied in court by friends and neighbours, wept throughout the inquest.
Kelly returned a verdict of accidental death as a result of asphyxia caused by salt water drowning.
He said it was important to remind the public of the inherent dangers of the sea and the hazards that can occur in “seemingly calm conditions”.
“Constant close supervision is essential at all times with young children,” he said.
“If Alan’s death can prevent further deaths it’s important that public awareness is brought to the fore, and that’s in no way to apportion blame, but it’s important to highlight this in coastal areas,” Kelly added.
The coroner and Butler extended their sincere sympathies to Singh on his “tragic loss”.
