BY DAVID FORSYTHE
A YOUNG Kinsale fisherman died while on a fishing trip in the Atlantic Ocean due to a ‘one in a million’ accident, an inquest at the Coroner’s Court in Bantry has heard.
Desmond (Des) Hurley, 29, was a crew member on the Breizh Arvor II, an ocean-going trawler that was skippered by his brother Mark on a prawn-fishing voyage to the Porcupine Bank, about 150km off the West Cork coast, in December 2023.
Mark Hurley told the inquest that shortly before midnight on December 13th, 2023 he was in the wheelhouse as the vessel was fishing prawns. He said he asked his brother Desmond to take over in the wheelhouse. Desmond said he would and went down to the accommodation deck to first change his jumper.
Mark said that after about seven minutes Desmond had still not returned and he went looking for him below deck. After searching in various parts of the ship Mark climbed down the steep stairs leading to the accommodation area where he saw his brother Desmond lying motionless on the floor. Mr Hurley said he immediately feared something was seriously wrong and tried to carry out CPR on his brother without success.
Mr Hurley alerted crew member Haralambie Florin and the two returned to the accommodation area to continue their CPR efforts.
Mr Hurley said that he believed at this stage that his brother was dead but added: ‘We could see Des was gone but we had to try.’ Mr Florin said that he was trained in lifesaving but it was very difficult to carry out CPR in the conditions as the ship was constantly rolling. Mark Hurley said there was a ‘very small’ mark on Desmond’s forehead but other than that, no apparent injuries.
With the attempts to revive Desmond exhausted, Mark Hurley instructed the crew to haul in their nets and he contacted the Valentia Coastguard and headed for Castletownbere. Mark Hurley said that he did not want to leave his brother on the floor during the voyage back to Ireland so with the help of the rest of the crew placed Desmond back in his bunk.
Sergeant Stephen O’Sullivan from Castletownbere Garda Station had been alerted and he met the vessel as it arrived in port following an 18-hour return voyage. Having investigated the scene Sgt O’Sullivan said that it was his opinion that Desmond Hurley had slipped and hit his head as he attempted to climb the steep stairs leading up from the accommodation area after changing his jumper. He said that Mr Hurley may have hit his head on the
doorframe.
Assistant State pathologist Dr Margot Bolster said that a postmortem on the body of Desmond Hurley was carried out at Cork University Hospital (CUH). She told the inquest that Mr Hurley had sustained a fracture to his upper neck bone, an injury that can commonly cause immediate cardiac arrest. She said that Mr Hurley would have died almost instantly.
Coroner Frank O’Connell said there was ‘very strong circumstantial evidence’ that Desmond Hurley had lost his footing and hit his head. He told the six-member jury of five men and one woman that there was ample evidence to suggest that Mr Hurley died as the result of a fall. He said there was limited scope for them to return an open verdict if they decided they ‘didn’t know’ what happened based on the evidence. After a short period of deliberation the jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
The coroner said that what happened to Desmond Hurley was a case of extremely bad luck, a ‘one-in-a-million occurrence’, like a ‘bolt of lightning’. He offered his deepest sympathies to Mr Hurley’s family as did the foreman of the jury and Inspector Triona O’Mahony on behalf of An Garda Síochána.
