An inquest into the tragic deaths of two men working on a boat in Killybegs has found that they died as a result of asphyxiation due to inhalation of hydrogen sulphide.
James Joyce, aged 27 of Inis Mór, Co Galway and Joel Alama, aged 46, from the Philippines died in August, 2015.
Both were working on trawler Oileán an Óir which is owned by James’ uncle Stephen Joyce.
The inquest, before Dr Denis McCauley at Donegal Town Courthouse, heard the boat was to be overhauled and painted and they were getting it ready to go back to Galway.
At 1pm on 24th Aug 2015 James told his brother Peter that he was going to clean out the refrigeration system.
However, half an hour later Peter said he heard Joel Alama shout and telling him to call an ambulance which he did.
He then went to the hold and he saw James and Joel collapsed at the bottom of the hold and Joel was on top of James.
Peter said he could smell gas and firemen wearing breathing apparatus then took them out.
James died that night at Letterkenny University Hospital and Joel died a few days later on August 28th.
Medical evidence was given that they died as a result of asphyxiation due to inhalation of hydrogen sulphide and the likelihood was that they were overcome very quickly.
Tom Power of the Marine Casualty Investigation Board spoke about its investigation.
A summary of the report into the investigation found the refrigerated seawater system hadn’t been cleaned out for 5 months and when the dormant water was agitated it released hydrogen sulphide.
Frank Kearns of the Health and Safety Authority said that it was extremely rare for something like this to happen.
In fact, he said he could only find one instance off the coast of Africa in the 1990s where heat was a factor.
He said the men were just doing normal work and the accident could not reasonably been foreseen.
The jury found that the deaths were accidental and added a rider that the Minister should introduce mandatory monitoring for hydrogen sulphide in trawlers with the same type of refrigeration system.
The family of Mr Joyce welcomed the rider and also paid tribute to Joel Alama.
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