Boating tragedy: Deaths highlight treacherous seas
The deaths of three men on a fishing trip in south Kerry reveal, once again, how treacherous the seas around our coast can be, even close to shore and in conditions that may be challenging, but not treacherous.
It is a tragic postscript to a fine summer, weather-wise, but to a difficult one in terms of lives lost in Irish seas, rivers, and lakes. The total, so far, is more than 50, most of them young or middle-aged men.
Last year, 109 people drowned in Irish waters: 84 were male and 25 were female. According to Irish Water Safety, males overestimate their skills and competencies and underestimate the risk and danger.
Whether that is the case in this latest tragedy will probably never be known. It is clear, though, that the men, who were from Latvia, were each wearing life-jackets, which suggests that they did not take their safety lightly.
Nonetheless, their deaths serve as a further warning to anyone contemplating taking to the waters as the weather gets colder and as daylight grows shorter.
