Mother of Cork drowning victim looking for answers following sons death

Extra.ie​

16-06-2025

The devastated mother of a young man who drowned in Cork last month has said it was her son's time to go, but people 'could have tried' to save him.
34-year-old Luke Hyde died after he got into difficulty while swimming in the north channel of the River Lee at Pope's Quay in early May.
A major search and recovery operation was carried out, with emergency responders eventually recovering the body of Luke. 34-year-old Luke Hyde died after he got into difficulty while swimming in the north channel of the River Lee at Pope's Quay in early May. Pic: RIP.ie
Shockingly, Luke's final moments were recorded and shared via social media, with emergency responders telling his friend that they had to push people out of the way in order to rescue the Cork man.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Luke's mum Elizabeth said it was 'complete out of character' for her son to get into the water, and hoped the upcoming inquest would answer questions she had.
'His time was up; that's the way I have to look at it,' she said, 'God wanted him; his time was up. I would never say, 'Why did you do this to me, why not someone else?' never. Last month, Elizabeth appeared on RTE One's Upfront with Katie Hannon alongside her son's childhood friend KellyAnn. Pic: RTÉ One
'I accept God's will. Nobody could have saved him that day, but at least someone could have tried,' the 76-year-old said, 'He wasn't to be saved, but they could have tried.'
Last month, Elizabeth appeared on RTE One's Upfront with Katie Hannon alongside her son's childhood friend KellyAnn.
The women are now calling on legislation to be introduced which would make videoing tragic events illegal. @rteone
"Not one person offered their help." Kelly Ann describes the day her childhood friend Luke died from drowning. She is campaigning for 'Luke's Law' to prohibit recording the scene of an accident. #RTEUpfront ♬ original sound – RTÉ One
KellyAnn explained on the show that it was a law in Germany.
'Basically you could face one year imprisonment or a massive fine if you're on the scene of an accident recording and using it to be sending through social media channels and not offering help of whatever.'
KellyAnn added that following the death of her friend she walked down to Pope's Quay where she noticed there was a life buoy 'within ten feet' of where he had entered the water.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Elizabeth hit out at the mention of addiction on Upfront which alluded to a drug addiction.
'I had said that Luke had a little problem with alcohol,' she clarified, 'I never even said he was an alcoholic, and the way it came out made it sound like he was addicted to drugs, which isn't true at all.'