RESCUE workers have told how passers-by rushed into the water to help a mother whose two children died when the family car plunged into a loch.

The bodies of Leia, three, and two-year-old Seth McCorrisken were recovered from the car in Loch nan Druimnean, near the village of Kilmelford, south of Oban, on Wednesday night.

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Their mother, who was driving the car, was taken to Oban Hospital as a precaution and later discharged.

The family are from the isle of Luing, south of Oban, where the children’s father, Neil McCorrisken, runs his own business.

Last night a community spokesman said: “They were lovely children that had everything going for them. We are very saddened by the whole thing, the whole community is completely upset by it all. Our thoughts go out to the family, it’s all absolutely tragic.

He said the family had come to the island in the last 18 months.

He added: “The whole community is completely distraught, the poor parents are traumatised just now.”

Yesterday it emerged that passing motorists had tried to help the 36-year-old woman get out of the water.

Iain MacKinnon, station officer of Oban Volunteer Coastguard team, confirmed that the mother had been assisted by a member of the public.

Mr MacKinnon, who has 30 years’ service with Oban Coastguard, said: “We were there about 4.40pm and the police, fire and ambulance were at the scene.

“The vehicle was completely submerged in the water, we couldn’t see it at all, we reckon the car had about 15 feet of water above it, so the water at that point of the fresh water loch was about 40ft deep.

“Some passing motorists had entered the water in an attempt to help, there were certainly still one or two there when we arrived, they were in blankets.”

Mr MacKinnon, 56, added: “I think some motorist helped her to get to the shore, but I don’t know any more details.

“Presumably the mother was swimming, trying to get to the shore, when the guy went to help her.

“The water was bitterly cold, probably five or six degrees – that loch, it freezes over in the winter but the temperature is pretty much the same now as in the winter.”

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While the mother was cared for by an ambulance team Mr MacKinnon said other emergency service workers tried to reach the sunken vehicle.

He said: “Firemen were attempting to dive down and we put somebody in the water to help them.

“Our man is a qualified diver in his private life and was able to assist the firemen, but the car was just too deep to get to, it is that kind of dark, peaty water. They kept trying for one and a half hours to get to the car and kept changing teams because of the cold.”

Police divers, who were flown in by helicopter from Greenock, then arrived and were able to reach the car and bring the bodies of the two children out.

Mr MacKinnon, who has attended over 80 water fatalities during his coastguard service, said: “They recovered the bodies from the car.”

He added that cold water shock would have affected anyone trapped under the loch very quickly: He said: “Cold water shock grips you, it’s very difficult to survive that for any amount of time.”

Coastguard teams from Oban, Tarbert and Ardpatrick attended along with the fire, ambulance, police, helicopter and medical personnel.

Mr MacKinnon said: “Everything that we possibly could do was done.”

The vehicle was recovered from the water late on Wednesday night.

Local politicians and community leaders have expressed their sympathy for the family.

Councillor Roddy McCuish, chairman of Argyll and Bute Council’s Oban, Lorn and the Isles Area Committee, said: “It’s an unbelievable tragedy that this has happened.

“I am sure I am speaking for the whole community when I say that our thoughts are with the family and indeed with all the rescue services that attended.”

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Argyll MSP Michael Russell said: “Obviously the local community and indeed the whole of Argyll is shocked and stunned such an appalling tragedy.

“All our hearts go out to the family whose suffering at this moment is unimaginable.”

“The weather was terrible and the road is a difficult one at the best of times but exactly what happened will need to be examined at a later date and any conclusions drawn. This is presently a time for mourning and grief.”