- Ex-Storm and Queensland great suffers shocking blow
- Relative, 40, drowned in dam near Mackay, Queensland
- Police say he was heroically saving girl’s life at the time
Billy Slater has suffered a shocking family tragedy after his brother-in-law drowned while saving his daughter’s life when she fell from their boat in a Queensland dam last weekend.
Father-of-four Ryan Craig – who is married to Slater’s older sister Sheena – died in Kinchant Dam near Mackay on Saturday when the boat he and his family were on broke down and he went into the water to rescue his daughter some time after 11am.
Slater (pictured with wife Nicole) has suffered a shattering blow with the news that his brother-in-law has drowned while performing a heroic act in a Queensland dam
The Craig family are ‘devastated’ by their loss, Queensland Police Inspector Glenn Cameron said (pictured, Ryan Craig, his wife Sheena – Billy Slater’s sister – and their children)
The nine-year-old was later pulled safe and well from the dam but Craig’s body was not recovered until Monday morning.
Queensland Police have not released the full circumstances of what occurred but Inspector Glenn Cameron said preliminary investigations have revealed ‘the actions of the man who is now deceased saved his young daughter’s life’.
He added that the Craig family is ‘devastated’ by the incident, which saw Sheena, 42, and their three other children reach the shore safely at about 12.30pm on Saturday.
Craig, 40, who hailed from North Eton just west of Mackay, went missing after he and his daughter fell from a broken-down boat.
While the search for Craig was being conducted, senior sergeant Trevor Robson said, ‘Obviously (the family) is very upset about what’s happened and we can only imagine the trauma they’re going through.
‘You wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy.’
The footy legend’s relative Ryan Craig (pictured with his family) is being credited with saving his nine-year-old daughter’s life last Saturday
Pictured: Search and rescue boats search for Craig after he went missing on Saturday at Kinchant Dam, about 35km west of the Queensland town of Mackay
An RACQ rescue helicopter was involved in the search for the father-of-four (pictured)
She was later pulled from the water but water police and specialist divers mounted a desperate search for her father, including seven boats armed with sonar devices, but failed to find any trace until his body was recovered on Monday.
Inspector Cameron said the girl was brought to safety by a jet ski rider and was taken to Mackay Base Hospital as a precaution, according to Seven News.
Cameron added that the question of whether Craig and his daughter were wearing life jackets will be part of the police investigation.
‘Our thoughts are with the family who’ve lost a loved one in these tragic circumstances,’ he said.
‘We never want to see something like this happen.’
Queensland Police will now prepare a report for the coroner.
Slater grew up with his older sister in Innisfail, about 90km south of Cairns in Queensland.
At the time of writing, neither of them had commented about the tragedy.
In his autobiography, Slater (pictured with wife Nicole at the 2018 Dally M Medal ceremony) reminisced about his time growing up with sister Sheena in Innisfail, Queensland
The 40-year-old all-time footy great played 323 games for the Melbourne Storm during a career in which he reached the absolute pinnacle of rugby league.
In addition to his 31 games for Queensland and 30 matches for Australia, Slater starred in seven grand finals, won the Dally M Medal as the NRL’s best player in 2011 and took out the Golden Boot award as the top player in the world in 2008.
Since he retired in 2018 he has found success as the coach of the Queensland State of Origin side and as a commentator for Channel Nine.
In his 2017 autobiography he reminisced about his younger days with Sheena, saying he and his sister ‘learned to value what we were given’ as the family struggled to make ends meet – but added that they ‘never felt poor’.