DATELINE: 4th January 2001

MACCOLL DEATH
The pop singer Kirsty MacColl died after surfacing beneath an 11m motor cruiser while diving off Cozumel, suffering severe injuries to her chest from the boat's propeller. It is reported that MacColl had pushed her son Jamie clear of danger before being killed.
MacColl, 41, from Croydon in Surrey, was on holiday with her boyfriend Steve Knight, 26, and sons Jamie (17) and Louis (15). On the fateful day she was diving with Jamie, Louis and a diving instructor, Ivan Dias. All three have given statements to the police.
Jamie MacColl told of how his mother seemed to be "motioning and pushing me away from her side" before feeling feeling "something glance of the side of my head, hitting the left side of my shoulder, body and elbow".
Dias reported: "Kirsty pushed Jamie away from her and I tugged at Louis's wetsuit as we all became engulfed in a white wake of water." He and Louis MacColl were swept to one side.
Dias added. "In my opinion, she saved her son's life by pushing him out of the way. She was a very brave lady to do that."
Cozumel police are investigating the death, and questions surround whether a cruiser should have been motoring at reportedly some speed inside the particular reef where Kirsty MacColl was struck.
Following an autopsy, MacColl's body was returned to England. The boys' father, music producer Steve Lillywhite, flew out to Cozumel to accompany them home.

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