Lutherville Girl, Cameron O'Neill-Mullin, Dies in Boating Accident in Australia

(UPDATE 11:31 p.m. April 14) The community was shocked this morning to discover that one of its students died in a boating accident on Tuesday while on a school-sponsored exchange trip in Australia.

Cameron O’Neill-Mullin, a sophomore at St. Paul’s, was on a boating outing with her host family at the time of the accident. A speed boat was pulling O'Neill-Mullin and two others on an inner tube that collided with a tree.

According to The Courier Mail in Australia, "Two teenage girls were killed and their friend is fighting for her life in a Brisbane hospital after a tube-boat ride accident at a recreational water park.

"The three friends were lying on a floating tube being towed by a speed boat at the Goondiwindi Natural Heritage water park ... when they hit a tree on an island in the centre of the waterway about 3 p.m. Two of the girls died at the scene," the article states.

O’Neill-Mullin has been enrolled at schools within the St. Paul’s campus for “as long as she was in school,” said Monica Gillespie, the head of the St. Paul’s School for Girls.

“It’s very heavy hearts today, shock, grief and sadness,” she told Patch earlier this afternoon. “She was an extraordinary scholar, athlete and overall member of our community—just an absolutely extraordinary young woman.

“We are supporting the family by giving them privacy and space to grieve as a family,” she continued.  

Grief counselors from St. Paul’s as well as other schools within the Association of Independent Maryland Schools have volunteered their time to help students through the tragedy.

“We’re all here for the kids,” Gillespie said. 

O'Neill-Mullen played for St. Paul's soccer team. In October, during a game in overtime play against Friends School of Baltimore, she "scored off an Eliza Clarke corner, placed neatly in front of the goal, for a swift kick," according to an article in Lutherville Patch. .

About 420 students are enrolled at the St. Paul’s School for Girls, located on Falls Road in Brooklandville. The school teaches girls from fifth through 12th grades.

According to Lutherville-Timonium Patch, a public viewing will be held April 15 from 1-4 p.m. and from 6-9 p.m. at Rucks Towson Funeral Home. Funeral Services for Cameron O’Neill-Mullin will be private.

Read , on Lutherville-Timonium Patch.