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The Baltimore Beacon was the scene of a terrible tragedy on Tuesday when three people lost their lives in the sea there.

It emerged yesterday that the four-strong party — the other being Mr Ryan’s teenage daughter, Charlotte Davis Ryan — may have been fishing rather than walking when tragedy struck.

It is understood that Ms O’Connor may have been knocked into the water first by a wave, and Mr Davis Ryan went to save her.

It is understood that Mr Ryan asked then his daughter to raise the alarm, and that conscious of the lack of mobile phone signal in the area, she ran up the hill towards the Beacon, quickly borrowed a phone from some tourists and made the call. Valentia Coast Guard confirmed yesterday that the emergency call was made from a foreign mobile number.

By then, Mr Ryan had entered the water in an attempt to rescue his son and his girlfriend. The time between the emergency call being received at 6.36pm and the lifeboats arriving at the scene at 6.50pm and taking Mr Ryan and Ms O’Connor from the water was described as “seriously fast” by Valentia Coast Guard.