A young crew member died instantly after falling off a ladder on board a fishing vessel and fracturing his neck, an inquest has heard.
The Coroner's Court in Bantry, Co Cork heard that Desmond (Des) Hurley, 29, lost his balance whilst on a ladder in the accommodation deck of a family-owned fishing vessel, the Breizh Arvor II, on 14 December 2023.
Mr Hurley, his brother Mark and other crew members had been fishing at the Porcupine Bank off the southwest coast of Ireland when the accident occurred.
Coroner Frank O’Connell said that unfortunately it was a case "of lightning striking" leading to a "one-in-a-million death".
Mark Hurley, who is a brother of the deceased, said that he asked Desmond to take over at the wheelhouse at close to midnight on 13 December 2023. Desmond went downstairs to change his jumper.
Mark went looking for his brother when he did not come back up from the accommodation deck in a matter of minutes.
He saw his brother lying on the floor of the accommodation deck.
Mark Hurley told the coroner that he and another crew member administered CPR on Des but to no avail.
"We could see Des was gone but we had to try," he said.
Mark said that Des had sustained a mark on his forehead.
Mark, in his role as skipper, instructed the crew to haul in their nets so that they could return back to shore.
He contacted Valentia Coastguard and then called Medico to speak to a nurse.
Crew member Haralambie Floren said that he had experience in first aid and assisted Mark with CPR on Des.
He stated that the administering of CPR was difficult because of sea swells.
The inquest heard that the crew members did not want to leave Des lying on the floor as they made the journey back to Castletownbere, Co Cork, so made a decision to lift him to his bunk bed to give him dignity in death.
Sergeant Stephen O’Sullivan who was on duty at Castletownbere Garda Station on 14 December said that they were informed that a death had occurred at sea.
The fishing vessel returned to Castletownbere that evening.
He said that having accessed the scene his opinion was that Des probably slipped on a step as he made his way back up the timber stairs of the accommodation deck, having retrieved his jumper.
He stated that Des possibly hit his head off the door frame of the room.
Scene of crimes investigators assessed the scene as a formality as there was no suggestion of anything untoward having happened.
The Marine Casualty Board and the HSE were contacted as a matter of course.
Dr Margaret Bolster carried out a postmortem on the body of Des Hurley at the morgue in Cork city.
She said that he sustained a fracture of the upper neck bone and that injuries of this type can lead to cardiac arrest.
Dr Bolster reassured family members of the deceased that death would have occurred "very quickly".
She indicated that the injury had caused Des’s heart to stop.
In conclusion, the coroner noted that there was "strong circumstantial evidence" that Des lost his footing on the ladder, sustained a neck injury and suffered cardiorespiratory failure.
He offered his heartfelt condolences to the Hurley family and said that the death had occurred as a result of "extreme bad luck".
He acknowledged that the passing of Des was a "terrible blow to the family".
Inspector Triona O’Mahony and the foreman of the jury also offered their sympathy to the relatives of the deceased.
The foreman said that what had happened to Des was "unimaginable".
