The skipper of a Co Down fishing boat could still be alive if he had been wearing a life jacket when his trawler sank in the Irish Sea, an inquest jury ruled today.
Kilkeel fisherman Colin Donnelly (30) died when the Emerald Dawnowned by his life-long friend Shane Murnaghan went down four miles offshore as they returned to harbour in November 2004 after fishing for crabs.
Mr Murnaghan (28) managed to make it into a life raft and was rescued, suffering from hypothermia, some 20 hours later after passing close to the Isle of Man.
Principal inspector Captain Nick
Mr Donnelly's body was recovered from the seabed by police divers three days after the sinking.
An inquest in Armagh heard an inspection of the 29 foot boat carried out a month before it sank, had resulted in Mr Murnaghan being told he was not to put to sea again until various deficiencies had been rectified.
The work was not carried out but an investigation by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch concluded the deficiencies had not contributed to the sinking.
A report presented to the inquest concluded flooding of the engine compartment was the only plausible cause for the boat sinking and that a failure in the salt water cooling system was the most likely cause of the flooding.
Principal inspector Captain Nick Beer said: "The leak was not detected by the crew as there was no operational bilge alarm fitted to the vessel and pots had been stowed on top of the hatch to the engine compartment preventing visual inspection of the space."
Captain Beer said that Mr Murnaghan had not attended all the basic safety training courses required under current regulations. He also said he had not understood the urgency of the requirement to rectify deficiencies in the vessel.
Nevertheless he said the boat was seaworthy and those deficiencies had not caused the sinking.
The inquest heard that Mr Donnelly had grabbed a life jacket from the wheelhouse as the vessel went down and jumped with it into the sea but had been unable to put it on.
Captain Beer said: "It is almost impossible to put on a buoyancy aid or a lifejacket in the water. We have been trying to persuade the fishing community to wear life jackets but there has been reluctance because they are cumbersome and make it more difficult to work."
PA