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Drowning victim's twin says they had gone to 'see the ducks'

Kayden Fleck (pictured on the right) with his twin, Jayden. Picture by Fleck family/ Pacemaker
Kayden Fleck (pictured on the right) with his twin, Jayden. Picture by Fleck family/ Pacemaker Kayden Fleck (pictured on the right) with his twin, Jayden. Picture by Fleck family/ Pacemaker

THE devastated parents of Kayden Fleck who lost his life after falling into a Ballymena river have described how his twin brother has revealed they had went to "see the ducks" when the tragedy unfolded.

Leanne and Darrel Fleck have spoke about the "nightmare" following the death of their five-year-old son, whose body was recovered from the Braid River on February 10.

Mr Fleck described how he had been dismantling a shed in the back yard of their home and "set the drill down and the boys were gone - I turned my back and they were away within seconds".

"Within minutes we were out to look for them," he told the BBC.

"We never thought to look near the river first because they've never been there alone in their lives."

The family had been in the process of moving house and had returned to their former home in the Ballykeel estate to collect their final belongings when tragedy struck.

"The boys asked if they could go outside to the back yard and I said, 'Yes, but please don't go away'," she said.

"We didn't think that was going to be the last time that we were going to see the two boys as the two musketeers."

The couple said the went straight to a nearby play park, assuming their sons would be there.

"We started searching, wondering whereabouts they could be, but it was when Jayden then cried for help over at the Ecos Centre - that's whenever we knew something terrible had happened," said Mrs Fleck.

Mr Fleck said he found Jayden running from the river with his clothes soaked and when he reached it Kayden had already been swept downstream.

A huge search and rescue operation was launched and Kayden was pulled from the water more than four miles from where he is believed to have fallen in. He was flown by air ambulance to the Royal Belfast Hospital, Belfast, but later died.

The couple said Jayden has since told his parents how he tried to help his twin brother out of the water, but could not reach him.

"Jayden has just told us that Kayden wanted to see the ducks," said Mrs Fleck.

A map showing the close proximity of the Ballykeel area (right), where Kayden had been playing, to the Braid River, near the Ecos Centre where it is believed he fell into the water.
A map showing the close proximity of the Ballykeel area (right), where Kayden had been playing, to the Braid River, near the Ecos Centre where it is believed he fell into the water. A map showing the close proximity of the Ballykeel area (right), where Kayden had been playing, to the Braid River, near the Ecos Centre where it is believed he fell into the water.

"He's saying they were playing and then Kayden wanted to go home but that he wanted to take a path that he thought would take him home more quickly. We can't understand how they got so far.

"Other than that he's been very quiet, he's playing but he's just lost."

Mrs Fleck said they "feel so empty and so lost" since the death of their son, who had been born with a congenital heart defect and chronic lung disease, spending the first year of his life in hospital, undergoing six open heart operations.

"He was the life and soul of the house," she said.

"He was fun, he was bubbly, when things got bad he made them right. He was there to give you a hug and wipe away the pain, but the pain is never going to go away."

The couple are now appealing for greater safety measures around rivers located close to residential areas.

"I don't want another family to go through this....I don't want another child to be Kayden," said Mrs Fleck.

Kayden Fleck from Ballymena. Picture by Fleck Family
Kayden Fleck from Ballymena. Picture by Fleck Family Kayden Fleck from Ballymena. Picture by Fleck Family