A holiday to Thailand turned to tragedy as a 23-year-old collapsed and hit his head when a mystery virus gave him a heart attack, an inquest in Dublin was told yesterday.
As Keith Christopher Grey lay unconscious on a beach on the idyllic island of Phi Phi, blood collected in the cavity of his skull, killing him. Dublin County Coroner's Court heard the victim had a family history of high blood pressure which could have resulted in him being susceptible to the virus, which could spread as commonly as a cold.
Mr Grey, of Monalea Grove, Firhouse, Tallaght, flew from Dublin to Bangkok with four friends - Stuart McEvoy, Conor Hemenstall, Gavin Lennon and Gary Hogan - on September 22nd, 2006. The group stayed in the city for two nights, before travelling to Phuket for three nights.
All four men gave evidence at the hearing, describing how Mr Grey felt unwell from the night they arrived on the small island.
The following morning - the Friday - Keith and two of the group went on a snorkelling trip, where Keith got badly sunburnt.That night he was tired, vomited, had diarrhoea, and could not hold down food or liquids and presumed he had sunstroke. Other members of the group also complained of feeling unwell.
The inquest heard Keith stayed in the holiday accommodation until late on the Saturday night where he met his friends in the Hippy Bar. They said he was drunk - but was not falling over - and had not touched any drugs.
When Stuart, Conor, Gavin and Gary woke up about noon on Sunday, Keith had not come home. They became concerned for him about two hours later, searching the beaches and pubs.
"It was unusual for Keith not to be home," said Mr McEvoy. "At 6pm, we went to the municipal building to see if he was there. We spoke to a Thai nurse and explained who we were looking for." He said that, in broken English, the nurse described their friend by his jewellery and a tattoo and said he had been taken in by locals who had found him unconscious early that morning. His condition was so bad he had been taken by boat to Krabi Hospital, where he was put on a respirator in the intensive care unit.
The group had to wait until the following morning for a boat to take them to the hospital where they arranged for Keith to go to Bangkok Phuket Hospital.
"While in the hospital, the doctor showed me a scan of Keith's brain showing swelling," said Mr McEvoy. "He said he was clinically dead." Keith's mother Lillian, brother John Paul, sisters Lorraine and Fiona, and girlfriend of six years Aoife Fox, flew to Phuket and were with him when he died on October 5th.
State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy, who carried out an autopsy on Keith's body when it returned home, found he had died from a subdural haemorrhage on the brain - blood collecting inside the skull cavity.
The pathologist said it was probable that, instead of sunstroke, Keith and a number of the others had suffered from a virus.
"He suffered a heart attack and lay there for long enough to develop subdural haemorrhage."
As a jury returned a verdict of accidental death, Dublin county coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty extended his deepest sympathies to Keith's family.