AN INQUEST has returned an open verdict in the case of a US doctor who went missing off the Irish coast in 2001 but whose body has never been recovered.
Dr Nenad Belic (62) from Chicago had planned to row from the east coast of the US to Portugal. His upturned boat was found off Co Clare by an Irish fishing vessel.
At a coroner’s inquest at Kilrush courthouse in Co Clare yesterday, details of the ill-fated attempt by the retired cardiologist to row across the Atlantic were recalled.
In a statement from Dr Belic’s lawyers, read into evidence by Supt Michael Comyns of Kilrush, the last known contact and movements of the married father of five were detailed.
On May 11th, 2001, Yugoslav-born Dr Belic departed Chatham, Massachusetts in his 21ft custom-built rowboat Lun.
Dr Belic, who once headed the cardiology department Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, kept in contact with his family during his trip by satellite phone.
During one communication on September 18th, 2001, Dr Belic indicated that he was running out of food, however it is known that he made contact and rendezvoused with a Swedish ship whose crew provided him with enough food for 10 days.
This was the last time Dr Belic was seen alive.
The inquest was also told that the last known contact from Dr Belic was on September 27th, 2001, when the Irish Coast Guard intercepted a distress call at about 10.30am after he had been at sea for 140 days.
The Coast Guard undertook a search over two days of an area off the southwest coast. There was no sign of Dr Belic or his boat.
The inquest was also told that during an earlier contact with his oceanographer Jennifer Clarkson, back at base, Dr Belic was advised to abandon the attempt because of poor weather ahead.
On November, 16th, 2001, Dr Belic’s boat was found capsized by the crew of a fishing vessel about six miles off the coast of Kilkee, Co Clare.
The boat was towed to Kilkee Bay where it was searched by gardaí. Det Garda DJ O’Shea gave evidence of receiving a call to go to the beach at Kilkee on that date. Det Garda O’Shea said that during a search of the boat, he discovered Dr Belic’s passport.
Coroner Isobel O’Dea said the purpose of the inquest was to assist Dr Belic’s family to have some closure.
Ms O’Dea said that Dr Belic’s wife Ellen had expressed her gratitude to the emergency services and said she was overcome by the amount of support and good wishes she and her family received.
Ms O’Dea told the inquest that in the absence of a body, no cause of death could be determined and with little evidence of what happened to Dr Belic, she directed the jury of three men and two women to return an open verdict in the case.
After retiring for a brief period, the jury returned to the chamber and the foreperson returned an open verdict.
Ms O’Dea, Supt Comyns and the jury foreperson extended their sympathies to the family of Dr Belic.