By Ralph Barnett

A SENIOR officer with HM Coastguard spoke yesterday of the tragedy which claimed the life of Arbroath schoolgirl Nicole Barthorpe.

Darryl White, the Montrose-based sector officer for the Coastguard service, said the spot where Nicole (11) fell into the sea meant that she stood little or no chance of survival.

Nicole died after falling into a narrow tidal crevasse near the Needle’s E’e on Saturday afternoon after apparently trying to retrieve a bag dropped by a friend.

She had been allowed to go out with her friend but had been warned to stay away from the cliffs.

Despite desperate efforts by local police, coastguard and lifeboat personnel, ambulance paramedics, an RAF search and rescue helicopter crew and her own father Kevin, nothing could be done to save Nicole.

Mr Barthorpe and Nicole’s mother Lorraine rushed to the scene as soon as they heard what had happened but were able to do little other than watch helplessly as the tragedy unfolded before their eyes.

Her body was recovered from the water and flown by helicopter to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee but, by then, it was clear to all involved that she had died.

Mr White, who is sadly no stranger to cliff accidents, said yesterday, “What happened on Saturday was an absolute tragedy and appears to have simply been a terrible accident.

“The point where this poor girl fell in can best be described as a scar in the cliffs with a narrow opening, perhaps two feet at its widest point, leading down to a four or five-foot wide inlet.

“The inlet is open at one end and the swell, when the tide is rising, just rockets in and then has nowhere to go.

“The force of water is so powerful that a cave has been carved out at the landward end and that creates a kind of suction effect which, in this tragedy, has drawn the little girl deeper into the inlet.

“I didn’t attend on Saturday myself but our people were there within 20 minutes and, along with all the other emergency service personnel present, did what they could in what was really a hopeless situation.

“One of the lifeboatmen had a dry suit on so he was put down on a safety line but, as any recovery in such conditions was impossible for one man, Mel Price from HM Coastguard was lowered to assist him.

“By then it was pretty clear it was a recovery rather than a rescue—the girl was face down in the water and not moving—but every effort was still made to get her out as quickly as possible because their is always a chance of resuscitation, however slim it might be.

“All of our thoughts are with Nicole’s family and friends and it has also been a particularly traumatic experience for the emergency personnel involved, and especially the two guys who recovered her body.

“No amount of training or experience prepares you for holding the limp body of a child in your arms when the parents are looking on and, as parents ourselves mostly, it’s not something you can ever get used to.

“This was just one of these situations where nothing could be done—either by Nicole herself or by the emergency teams—to change the terrible outcome.”

Mr White added, “In a narrow tidal inlet like that the waves just come crashing in from all directions and it creates a terrible vortex from which there is, quite literally, no chance of escape.

“Once again, all out thoughts and condolences are with Nicole’s parents.”

Nicole, a former pupil at Timmergreens Primary School in Arbroath, had recently started first year at Arbroath High School where rector Dr Alan Fraser was yesterday faced with the task of expressing the school’s condolences to her parents and trying to comfort pupils and staff.

Dr Fraser said, “The whole school was shocked and deeply saddened by the news of Nicole’s accident.

“Our deepest sympathies go to her parents, close family and friends for whom this is a devastating blow.”

Barbara Taylor, head teacher at Timmergreens Primary School, added, “We are all extremely saddened to hear of Nicole’s tragic accident.

“We have many happy memories of her bubbly, cheerful personality and our thoughts are with her family at this sad time.”