Agency
South West News provided the front page story for almost every national
on Tuesday after being in “the right place at the right time” to tell
the story of a toddler who died after being buried alive on a beach,
writes Dominic Ponsford.
Three-year-old Abbie Livingstone- Nurse
died in a freak accident on Sunday afternon after playing in a hole
children had dug on a Cornish beach.
South West News only had a
short Press Association report to go on which had no names but only
revealed the location of the beach.
So reporter Jon Kirk and
photographer Dan Kitwood decided to travel back to the scene of the
accident on Monday morning on the off chance that the family might
return there.
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They found that the child’s mother, stepfather,
brother and the lifeguard who tried to dig her out had all returned to
the spot to leave flowers at the scene.
News editor Andrew Young
said: “There were obviously very shaken but quite willing to do a
tribute to little Abbie. They had taken photographs of Abbie on that
holiday and said they were quite happy for us to use them.
“If
that had been me I wouldn’t have been able to speak. But it’s provided
a good warning for parents that these things can happen on holidays.
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“It’s the sort of story where you look at it and think of your own kids.”
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