This article is from page 6 of the 2006-09-05 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 6 JPG
THE Chief Executive of the Irish Water Safety Association (IWSA) has urged people to always wear a lifejacket during water pursuits.
John Leech made the call after an inquest in Ennis heard that a Limerick man drowned in Lough Derg.
He said that nine times out of 10, wearing a lifejacket will prevent a drowning taking place.
The dead man, 26-year old John Buckley, Ballyculhane, Glin, County Limerick, drowned on January 22 after his girlfriend, Lucinda Murphy (24) stood up to give him a hug, causing their canoe to capsize. They had only one lifejacket between them and it was decided before going into the water that she would wear the lifejacket.
In her deposition, Ms Murphy said, “I stood up to give John a hug and the boat toppled over. John and I both fell into the water. The water was very cold. John was not wearing a life-jacket.
Ms Murphy said that the two swam toward the canoe and tried to turn it over, but failed.
Ms Murphy said that she then inflated her lifejacket and took off her shoes.
She said that John saw a boy on the shore and called out to him and the boy went off to get help. Ms Murphy continued: “I started swimming towards the shore and John told me to keep swimming. I swallowed some water and started coughing.
“I called John and asked ‘are you okay’ and he did not reply. I turned around and I saw John’s hands out of the water. I knew that he was in trouble and I swam back to him and he kept pushing my hands away.
“He kept going under. I shouted to a man on the shore and he ran off. John then sank under the water and I waited for a few minutes and I tried to swim to the shore for help.”
Ms Murphy then said that she was rescued by a man called John with the help of a surf-board.
The Killaloe Search and Rescue Unit recovered Mr Buckley’s body from the river-bed at 8.55pm later that evening.
Coroner Isobel O’Dea told Wednesday’s Coronor’s Court that death by misadventure could occur where an unintended action brought about an unintended outcome.