Three of the four Irish people who lost their lives in Thailand during the December 2004 Indian ocean tsunami died as a result of the natural disaster, the Dublin city coroner found yesterday.
Dr Brian Farrell noted that postmortems on Eilis Finnegan, Lucy Coyle and Michael Murphy had not identified injuries or trauma and he was satisfied the deaths were consistent with drowning.
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy, asked by Robert Finnegan about his sister Eilis's death, said she probably drowned very quickly in a matter of minutes.
Dr Farrell expressed his deepest sympathies to the families of the three, as well as to the relatives of the fourth Irish victim of the St Stephen's Day tsunami, Conor Keightley (30), from Cookstown, Co Tyrone. The inquest into Mr Keightley's death will be held in Northern Ireland.
The coroner said he also wished to remember the 170,000 other victims of the disaster and all those traumatised by it.
He made the comments when concluding the inquests into the deaths of Ms Finnegan (27), from Ballyfermot, Dublin, a team leader with United Airlines; Ms Coyle (29), from Glenageary, Co Dublin, an accountant who had been living in London in recent years; and Mr Murphy (24), a nautical studies graduate, from Blackwater, Co Wexford.
Dr Farrell said he believed yesterday's inquests may be among the first public hearings connected to the tsunami disaster.
After hearing evidence from gardaí, family members, Dr Cassidy, and others - including Ms Finnegan's boyfriend, Barry Murphy - Dr Farrell found the cause of death of all three, while not conclusive because of delays in identifying the bodies and post-mortem changes, was consistent with drowning.
He returned a verdict of death consistent with drowning as a result of a natural disaster, the tsunami caused by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean on December 26th, 2004. The coroner also said he was satisfied with the identification of the bodies.
Barry Murphy identified Eilis on January 3rd of this year from computer pictures of the dead posted by Thai authorities and this was confirmed using dental records.
The identification of Ms Coyle was not made until April, from dental records, while Michael Murphy's body remained formally unidentified until last May. Identification was achieved from dental records and fingerprints obtained from his remains and matched with fingerprints on his lecture notes.
Supt John O'Driscoll, who travelled to assist in the identification of tsunami victims in Thailand, told the coroner some 2,232 victims of the disaster had been identified there but a further 1,526 bodies remained unidentified.
He believed there were no Irish victims of the disaster in the other affected countries.
Ms Finnegan's parents, Larry and Eileen, with their son Robert and daughter Sarah and Eilis's lifelong friend, Garda Sinead Ní Mhuircartaigh, who flew to Thailand to help in the search for Eilis, attended at the inquest.
Ms Coyle's family was represented by Des Mullan, partner of Ms Coyle's mother, Joan Coyle. Ms Coyle's father died some years ago. Mr Murphy's family was represented by his younger brother, Paul (23).
