Widow begs for review of rescue response times

THE widow of a fisherman who died in a trawler accident has pleaded with the Government to review the scramble times for night-time helicopter rescue missions.

Deirdre Lynch, Castletownbere, west Cork, was speaking yesterday after an inquest into the death of her husband, Seán, returned an open verdict.

She hopes it will prevent similar tragedies.

“It’s a dangerous enough industry to think that they can’t be rescued immediately,” she said.

The jury at Cork City Coroner’s Court recommended the review after the inquest heard the Coast Guard helicopter’s scramble time differs between day and night missions.

Under the terms of a contract between the State and CHC Ireland Ltd to operate the country’s marine emergency helicopter service, the scramble time between 7.30am and 9pm is 15 minutes. It is 45 minutes for night missions.

Mr Lynch, a 34-year-old father of three from East End, Castletownbere, was one of six men on board the 22-metre Róise Catriona on May 8 last.

He and his crewmates, relief skipper Gerard Harrington, Ger O’Driscoll, Paul Finner, Seán Sugrue, and Marine Institute researcher Dave Tully, were on the final day of a seven-day fishing trip and were due home to Castletownbere that evening.

But tragedy struck just before 6am as Mr Lynch and Mr O’Driscoll were casting their nets 50km south-west of the Fastnet.

Mr O’Driscoll found Mr Lynch lying unconscious on deck towards the front of the boat with a large facial wound and blood pouring from his mouth.

He had suffered fatal head and neck injuries after he was apparently struck in the face by a thick rope. It may have snagged or jumped off a reel.

It could have hit him with a force of up to 100 tonnes, the inquest was told.

While nobody saw the incident, Eoghan O’Toole, an investigator with the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB), said a snagged rope was the most likely cause.

Mr Harrington contacted Valentia Coast Guard which tasked the Shannon rescue chopper crew at 5.55am.

It was reported airborne at 6.40am — 45 minutes later — and it took just under an hour to fly the 126 miles to rendezvous with the trawler. Meanwhile, with assistance via radio link from Medico, the medical service for seafarers, Mr Lynch’s crewmates fought to save him.

Winch man and paramedic Jason O’Neill was on board the boat just after 7.33am but despite further medical efforts, he said Mr Lynch was dead. The body was airlifted to Cork University Hospital.

Mr O’Neill said the 45-minute scramble time is in place to factor in several variables including crew rest times, weather, visibility, aircraft weight and fuel reserves.

But Ms Lynch said the minister should review the situation. “If there was a day crew and a night crew and the response time was the same, somebody else might possibly be saved in the future,” she said.

She said she will never know if an earlier response could have saved her husband.

“Seán was the best. He was a family man, he fished to provide for us. If he could, he would have been at home all the time.”

Family solicitor Tom O’Halloran said it has been at least 15 years since the scramble time had been examined and money should not be an issue. “I hope they will look at this from the point of view of the fishing community in an effort to ensure the absolute safety, in so far as they can, of all those fishermen out there in very dangerous conditions.”

The MCIB investigation is ongoing.