Courts

Fishing vessel crew member killed after falling off ladder in ‘one in a million death’

Desmond Hurley (29) had been fishing with his brother and others at Porcupine Bank off southwest coast at time of incident

Desmond (Des) Hurley (29) lost his balance whilst on a ladder in the accommodation deck of a family-owned fishing vessel in December 2023.
Olivia Kelleher
Tue Sept 17 2024 - 19:40

A young crew member fell off a ladder on board a fishing vessel fracturing his upper neck causing cardiac arrest and instant death, an inquest has heard.

The Coroner’s Court in Bantry, Co Cork heard that Desmond (Des) Hurley (29) lost his balance whilst on a ladder in the accommodation deck of a family-owned fishing vessel, the Breizh Arvor II, on December 14th, 2023.

Des, his brother Mark and other crew members had been fishing at the Porcupine Bank off the southwest coast of Ireland when the accident occurred.

Coroner Frank O’Connell said that unfortunately it was a case “of lightning striking” leading to a “one in a million death”.

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Mark Hurley, who is a brother of the deceased, said that he asked Desmond to take over at the wheelhouse at close to midnight on December 13th, 2023. Desmond went down stairs to change his jumper.

Mark went looking for his brother when he didn’t come back up from accommodation deck in a matter of minutes. He went looking for Des in the accommodation deck. He saw his brother lying on the floor. He and another crew member administered CPR but to no avail.

Mark, in his role as Skipper, instructed the crew to haul in their nets so that they could return to shore.

Poignantly, the inquest heard that the crew members didn’t want to leave Des lying on the floor as they made the journey back to Castletownbere, Co Cork. They made a decision to lift him to his bunk bed to give him dignity in death.

Sgt Stephen O’Sullivan who was on duty at Castletownbere Garda station on December 14th of last year said that they were informed that a death had occurred at sea. The fishing vessel returned to Castletownbere that evening.

He said that having accessed the scene his opinion was that Des probably slipped on a step as he made his way back up the timber stairs of the accommodation deck having retrieved his jumper. He stated that Des possibly hit his head off the door frame of the room.

Dr Margaret Bolster carried out a postmortem on the body of Mr Hurley at the morgue in Cork City. She said that Des sustained a fracture of the upper neck bone. She stated that injuries of this type can lead to cardiac arrest.

Dr Bolster reassured family members of the deceased that death would have occurred “very quickly”. She indicated that the injury had caused Des’s heart to stop.

In conclusion, the Coroner Frank O’Connell noted that there was “strong circumstantial evidence” that Des lost his footing on the ladder, sustained a neck injury and suffered cardio respiratory failure. He offered his heartfelt condolences to the Hurley family and said that the death had occurred as a result of “extreme bad luck.”