{"id":309846,"date":"2025-08-01T17:50:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T17:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/309846\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T17:50:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T17:50:24","slug":"birmingham-parents-of-children-who-tragically-drowned-in-spain-are-numb-relative-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/309846\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham parents of children who tragically drowned in Spain are \u2018numb\u2019, relative says"},"content":{"rendered":"

The parents of two British children who drowned off a beach in Spain are \u201cnumb\u201d and \u201cholding each other up\u201d, says a relative.<\/p>\n

Ameiya and Ricardo Junior Parris, aged 13 and 11 respectively, died after getting into difficulty in the sea during a family holiday in Salou, near Tarragona, on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

Their father, Ricardo Parris, 31, had also entered the water but was rescued alive by emergency services and taken to hospital after being pulled from the water unconscious, according to local media reports.<\/p>\n

He was released from hospital after suffering a concussion and is waiting with the children\u2019s mother and his partner Shanice Del-Brocco, 31, at the Hotel Best Negresco, where they were staying, for the children\u2019s bodies to be repatriated.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Kayla Del-Brocco, Shanice\u2019s sister, said the parents, who live in Erdington, Birmingham, and have four younger children, were unable to see the bodies until Thursday at the mortuary.<\/p>\n

Ms Del-Brocco said: \u201cThat\u2019s been torturing her. It\u2019s just a complete nightmare for her. And sadly, she\u2019s awake for this nightmare.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was on her own with the four little ones, with no support, apart from the wonderful hotel staff who were there trying to support her, trying to translate little bits for her, and just being absolutely like family for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s breaking (Ricardo), if I\u2019m honest, because he was in the water, and I know he said things to my sister like: \u2018I had him, I had Joby in my arms, and we got smacked up the rocks, and that\u2019s the last thing I remember.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to wait for all the paperwork and everything to go through and the bodies to officially be released so we can repatriate them back home. I was told yesterday it could be anything from seven to 15 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are just numb. They\u2019re holding each other up and keeping it together for the little ones at the minute; going through the motions and desperately waiting to come home now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ricardo, whom Ms Del-Brocco says was the first to be rescued, was released from hospital with a \u201cnasty concussion and some bumps and batters\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"AmeiyaAmeiya (left) and Ricardo Junior Del-Brocco (Kayla Del-Brocco\/PA)<\/p>\n

The construction worker had taken the siblings for one final swim while Shanice, a full-time mother and former teaching assistant, had taken the rest of the children to the hotel briefly. Ms Del-Brocco said: \u201cThey\u2019d gone out. They were being sensible. They\u2019re very good swimmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey knew it was late. However, they\u2019d been doing this every day on holiday, so that day was no different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t go out far, but the current was just too strong and pulled them.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said a hotel worker had spotted the children struggling in the water from reception and had called for help.<\/p>\n

When Shanice returned to the beach, the ambulances and police cars were already there and Junior was taken away in a helicopter.<\/p>\n

Other family members flew out on Wednesday to comfort Ricardo and Shanice.<\/p>\n

The younger siblings \u2013 Cassius, six, Cleopatra, five, Asher, three, and Exodus, almost one \u2013 have been told, said Ms Del-Brocco.<\/p>\n

\"AmeiyaAmeiya (left) and Ricardo Junior Del-Brocco (Kayla Del-Brocco\/PA)<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cTheir understanding is they have gone to Heaven, and that\u2019s what they\u2019ve accepted. Little Cassius told me: \u2018Joby went to Heaven in a helicopter\u2019, because that was the last image of his brother he had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her cousin, Holly Marquis-Johnson, set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of repatriating the children\u2019s bodies and helping the family which has so far raised around \u00a330,000 \u2013 something Ms Del-Brocco described as \u201cphenomenally overwhelming\u201d.<\/p>\n

The siblings, who were in Years 7 and 8 at North Birmingham Academy, were doting older siblings, Ms Del-Brocco said.<\/p>\n

Ameiya was a talented runner who had ambitions of going to the Olympics. Ms Del-Brocco added she was \u201cunapologetically just herself. She was driven by being unique\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ricardo wanted to become a famous YouTuber and \u201cwas a very, very special one-of-a-kind character\u201d.<\/p>\n

Via her sister, Shanice said the siblings were \u201chilarious, sensitive and loving \u2013 the best big brother and sister anyone could want\u201d.<\/p>\n

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: \u201cWe are supporting the family of two British children who have died in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The parents of two British children who drowned off a beach in Spain are \u201cnumb\u201d and \u201cholding each…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,379,12,16,1259,15,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-309846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-local-hubs","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-uk-news","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114954778944379370","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}