Coroner calls for improved safety signage after sea death
An inquest in Caherciveen heard how a Polish man, Krysztof Kowalski, 27, was drowned at Culloo Head, which he had visited with three friends to take photographs on August 30.
Coroner Terence Casey said he recommended at a previous inquest that Kerry County Council erect signs to warn people of the danger. “This is a tragic accident in a place which is noted for serious accidents.
“Again, I call upon the council, a lot more seriously, to erect a proper legible sign without further delay.”
Anthony O’Sullivan, a volunteer with Valentia Coast Guard, who helped recover Mr Kowalski’s body, told the inquest he had been involved in the recovery of six bodies from Culloo Head in a 15-year period.
“Signs do not stay there because of the weather… if it keeps going, it’s going to claim more lives.”
Friends of Mr Kowalski, who had an address at Friar’s Walk, Cork, told how he walked a distance ahead of them after arriving in Valentia and they had lost sight of him.
It was getting dark and they searched extensively but could not find him. His girlfriend of six and a half years, who had remained in Cork, had been ringing his mobile phone and had got no answer.
One of the party on Valentia saw a baseball cap, similar to the one worn by Mr Kowalski in the water in the gap area of Culloo Head. His body was recovered the next morning by the Valentia Coast Guard.
Dr Margot Bolster, assistant state pathologist, who carried out the postmortem, concluded he was comatose in the water and then died from drowning. Bruises and abrasions were inflicted after death, most likely as a result of being washed against the rocks by the tide.
Addressing the jury, Mr Casey said he did not think Mr Kowalski would have realised the danger he was in by going onto the rocks so misadventure would be inappropriate as a verdict.
The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
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