Evidence of the moments before the death of Irish Coast Guard volunteer Caitríona Lucas was given by her crew mates at the opening of an inquest into her death.
Ms Lucas died seven years ago while assisting in a search and rescue operation off the coast of Co Clare.
It was accepted that Ms Lucas, of the Doolin Coast Guard unit, was assisting members of Kilkee Coast Guard unit because they were short of volunteers.
She was the first Coast Guard member to die on active duty.
The inquest heard the 41-year-old librarian and mother two from Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, might have survived had she still been wearing her safety helmet, which had earlier been ripped off her by a wave, when she was stuck by the Kilkee RIB and smashed against rocks off Kilkee Bay.
Ms Lucas, along with Kilkee Coast Guard volunteers Jenny Carway and James Lucey, were searching the sea beneath cliffs for a missing man near the pollock holes in Kilkee on September 12th, 2016.
A massive wave hit their RIB, and the three crew members were thrown out of the boat, into the sea, the inquest was told.
In her deposition, which was read out by Inspector Gary Thompson, Ms Carway stated: “Caitríona shouted ‘breaking wave’. It broke straight in on top of us, turning us upside down. We were all wearing our helmets, and we were all alive at this stage.
“Another wave hit, and we all got tossed about, the boat was upturned.”
Ms Carway said another wave swept them into a sea “cave”, and “smacked” her against the cave wall.
Another series of waves kept her “pinned against the cliff face”, she said, adding that she saw Ms Lucas and Mr Lucey were both “moving” at the back of the cave at this point.
'Fighting the waves'
Ms Carway statement added they were hit by another “series of waves” and she saw “Caitríona lying face down in the water”.
The witness said she was “fighting the waves” and clutching onto her radio in the water, issuing a mayday alert for help.
“The radio was gripped to my hands, and I was screaming for help. I was told ‘keep swimming - don't give up’, but I didn’t have any more in me.”
Ms Carway said her safety helmet was “ripped off” by a wave, and she was “washed down to the side of the cliff face”.
She added she was wearing a flotation device, but she did not manually inflate her dry suit because “it impedes your movement in the water”.
The witness said she was eventually airlifted to safety by the Shannon-based Coast Guard rescue helicopter Rescue 115.
Asked by Michael Kingston, a Marine expert representing Ms Lucas’ family at the inquest, if the Coast Guard Service had offered her any “supports” since the fatal incident, Ms Carway replied: “No”.
Shortages
She told the inquest jury of four men and three women at Kilmallock Courthouse in Co Limerick that the Kilkee unit was “always” short of volunteer crews, and it routinely required assistance from volunteers from other units.
The court heard all three volunteers lost their safety helmets after being hit by successive waves.
Ms Carway said her helmet was loose fitting, so she used an inflatable bladder inside her helmet, tied the chin strap extremely tight, and kept her visor closed in order to keep it on her head properly.
She said if she had not been wearing her helmet when she was being “smashed” against rocks in the cave, she would not have survived.
She added her helmet was “ripped off” when she was hit by a wave and pinned against the cave wall.
Mr Kingston told the inquest that Ms Lucas could be seen on video footage from rescuers' cameras being struck by the Kilkee RIB and sea rocks, rendering her unconscious.
Asked if Ms Lucas could have survived if she had been wearing her helmet at the time she was hit by the boat, Ms Carway replied: “It could have been the difference between her being here today and not.”
The inquest also heard Ms Lucas’s dry suit had filled up with water, and that the crew were not aware they were entering a “surf zone”, which was considered a no-go zone for inflatable RIBS.
One maritime VHF radio was not working properly, and a seat on the Kilkee RIB was not in commission.
Safety gear belonging to the three volunteers was put into evidence bags by gardaí and given to a representative of the Maine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB).
These items had also been requested by the Lucas family, but they had not yet been made available, Mr Kingston said.
Mr Kingestion claimed he was been “gagged” by Coroner John McNamara, who said he would not allow him raise a 2014 incident in Dingle, Co Kerry involving a capsized vessel, as Mr McNamara had previously ruled this was not relevant.
It was accepted by Limerick Coroner, John McNamara, that a report compiled by the MCIB into the incident included incorrect details of the location of where the Kilkee RIB capsized.
I saw a wall of water crashing towards us
Giving evidence, Mr Lucey told the hearing: “I saw a wall of water crashing towards us. It hit us and dragged us under. I remember being underwater, it was like being in a washing machine.
“Another wave crashed into us, they just kept coming.”
Mr Lucey said every time that he tried to “climb” onto rocks, another wave “washed me off”.
He added that he was swept into the cave where the “tide was coming in” around them, and when he surfaced after being hit by another wave, his helmet was gone.
He said he initially saw Ms Lucas “on her back” on the water, but she ended up being “face down” in the water before being winched from the sea by the Rescue 115 helicopter.
Ms Lucas was taken to University Hospital Limerick where she was pronounced dead.
Mr Lucey said he felt it was too dangerous to stay with the boat after it had righted itself, given the waves crashing about them.
He said they were all wearing flotation devices, but he did not inflate his dry suit “as I deemed it would restrict my movements in the water”.
Asked by Mr Kingston if he expected his helmet would have stayed on, Mr Lucey replied: “Yes.”
Mr Lucey said his dry suit was not full of water, but said that if it had been, he would not have been able to get himself onto a ledge in the cave prior to being rescued by the Coast Guard helicopter.
Also giving evidence on Monday, Retired Garda Sergeant John Moloney, from Kilrush Garda station, recalled hearing the mayday alert and the words “capsized” screech over the rescuers' radios.
He said he asked a member of the Kilkee unit to join people who were operating a private boat and go search for Ms Lucas and her two colleagues.
He said “large rolling waves were smashing against the cliffs”, and this leisure boat could not reach the capsized crew.
Mr Moloney added that he witnessed Ms Lucas “lying face down and being tossed around at the mercy of the breaking waves”.
“She seemed unconscious. The RIB was upright and unoccupied near the cliffs,” he said.
The hearing was told the Lucas family had requested that the Kilkee boat logs be provided to the inquest, but they were not available.
The inquest continues on Tuesday.
