Gardai in Galway are trying to locate the owner of a white speedboat which sped past a swimmer shortly before he got into difficulty and drowned, an inquest in the city heard yesterday.
Shop manager Mr Patrick Coyne (22), from Castlerea, Co Roscommon, who had been living in Galway, had gone swimming on July 28th with his girlfriend, Ms Denise Gallagher, and other friends in the Corrib River.
Ms Gallagher told the inquest the group had gone swimming off the pier at Corrib village at 6 p.m. that evening. Mr Coyne was wearing a T-shirt and slacks. He went to swim across the river and, when he was three-quarters of the way across, she saw a speedboat coming down the river at speed.
She signalled to the boat to slow down but the driver continued at speed and swerved in towards her and the other girls to avoid Mr Coyne. The boat then sped away. Ms Gallagher said she saw Mr Coyne raise his hand before shouting for help. She swam to help him but he disappeared underwater. When she was halfway across she became exhausted and had to swim on her back to reach the other side.
She was later picked up by a couple in another boat. "In my opinion the white speedboat did not slow down and waves made by the boat contributed to Patrick Coyne getting into difficulty," Ms Gallagher told the inquest. Mr Coyne's body was recovered in 20 feet of water by divers a short time later. There were no marks on his body to suggest the boat had hit him.
Garda Pat Hanlon told the inquest that investigations were ongoing to try to locate the owner of the boat, who was not a member of Galway's two boat clubs. He felt the boat might belong to someone who had launched it from a car trailer at Woodquay, Galway, and had taken it away by car that same day.
The west Galway coroner, Dr Ciaran McLoughlin, said there no question of a collision with the boat. He recorded a verdict of accidental drowning.