Week of holiday celebrations cancelled due to worker’s death

Jimmy Woulfe

Sean McGowan, aged 25, died from injuries he received when a trench caved in on him last Friday.

Hundreds of mourners stood at the pier of Arranmore Island yesterday afternoon as the ferry bearing Mr McGowan’s remains docked.

Local curate, Fr Martin Timoney blessed the remains as the coffin was shouldered onto the pier by members of the dead man’s family.

Mr McGowan, who was single, was working on the Coffey Construction site near the old Greenpark Racecourse entrance when three tons of earth caved in on top of him at around lunchtime, Friday.

Fellow workers frantically dug their way through a huge pile of earth to try and rescue him.

He was rushed to the Mid-West Regional Hospital where he died on Saturday night.

It was the second fatality on a Limerick building site in the past six weeks.

The Health and Safety Authority has begun an investigation into the death and inspectors have visited the scene of the accident.

Fr Timoney said Sean, who was one of seven children of islanders Terence and Maureen McGowan, was due home on the island this week for the annual homecoming festival.

“Emigrants always return this week every year and there are great festivities. But all the celebrations have been cancelled. Even on a beautiful day such as today, the sheen is taken from this beautiful island by a tragedy such as this,” he said, adding that Sean was a hugely popular young man.