Boy, 5, drowns on birthday holiday

Staff at the Thomas Cook-owned three-star Explorers Hotel close to the resort confirmed there had been no lifeguard on duty when Colum Canning from Londonderry, Northern Ireland, fell into the water after disappearing from his mother's view.

Colum was quickly discovered in the water by another guest who jumped in and dragged him out but he had already lost consciousness.

On Saturday he died in hospital after his parents David and Karen took the decision to switch his life-support machine off. They agreed to donate their son's organs.

The Canning family, Colum, twin brother Kieran, seven-year-old sister Caitlin and parents had just checked in at the hotel when the accident happened. They had left their home in Londonderry to spend Christmas in Disneyland as a special treat for the brothers' Boxing Day birthday.

Neighbours around the Hawthorne Grove family home off the Springtown Road in the Creggan area of the city were stunned.

At the family home a single bouquet of flowers bearing the simple message "God Bless" was left against the front wall of the neat three-year-old semi-detached house.

Next door neighbour Fionnulia O'Kane said: "It's awful, I don't know what Karen is going to do when she gets back. It's heart-breaking. He was a lovely, lovely little boy."

The twins started school in September at St Eithne's Primary School a few hundred yards from their home. But a few weeks ago the brothers, who were both autistic, were switched to the special needs unit at a nearby school.

The headmaster of St Eithne's, Gerry Cosgrave said: "It's such a terrible tragedy, especially coming so close to Christmas. It's terrible for the family. The staff are totally and utterly shocked and everybody feels for the wee boy and his parents."