Witnesses describe drowning fishermen’s last moments

Witnesses at the inquest into the deaths of two men on a fishing trip in 2010 have described how they saw one of the men struggling in the water and then disappearing underneath, just seconds before a nearby fisherman reached him.

An open verdict was returned by a jury following the inquest yesterday into the drowning of John O’Brien, aged 35, from Fourmilewater, Co Waterford, and Patrick Esmonde, aged 36, from Cahir, Co Tipperary, who went fishing in a dinghy off Helvic Head in Co Waterford early in the afternoon of Sunday, May 23, 2010, but died soon after 5pm that evening.

Two whale-watchers, Andrew Malcolm and his wife Anne Trimble, were on a cliff overlooking the scene of the tragedy.