“Innocent old-fashioned fun” turned to tragedy when sand dune collapsed

A coroner’s court yesterday heard how “innocent old-fashioned fun” on a Kerry beach turned to tragedy when a sand dune collapsed, causing the death of a 19-year-old student from Cork.

Niamh McCarthy of Ballygrissane, Minane Bridge, Co Cork, a biological and chemical science student at University College Cork was on a post-exam break with a group of nine friends. They had rented a house on the beach at Castlegregory for three days.

On May 29th, 2012 the group of friends had spent the morning digging a hole with their hands about half way up a sand dune alongside the back beach in the Maharees at Castlegregory.

Collapse
They had been lowering each other into the hole which witnesses yesterday said was between 9ft and 11ft deep at the back, and 6ft-7ft at the front, and taking pictures of each other. At 3pm Ms McCarthy was the last to go into the hole. She was in there no more than a few minutes when the dune began to collapse.

One of the friends Colm Keating, Old Airport Road, Leheenmore, Cork in his deposition said the back wall collapsed. The friends began digging frantically with their hands to get her out and some of the group ran for help. Locals arrived with shovels and after 15-20 minutes got her out of the hole.

The court was told that Ms McCarthy was pronounced dead the next day at Kerry General Hospital where she had been taken by ambulance.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster, who conducted the postmortem, said death had been caused by brain damage due to lack of oxygen which had been caused by asphyxia on being buried in the sand.

Coroner Helen Lucey said the verdict should be brought in in accordance with the medical evidence and stressed that the word accident should be used.

She had been “accidentally buried in the sand”, the coroner said.

Ms Lucey said this had been an extremely difficult inquest, and it was very hard to find words to express the sympathy felt by the crowded coroner's court yesterday.

Innocent fun
This was such a terrible, harrowing accident, she said. The young people involved had been engaged in "innocent old-fashioned fun, which just went terribly wrong.

“There had been no drink or drugs involved. They had been reading books and playing on the beach, after their exams and doing things children would have done years ago, the coroner said.

“They strike me as lovely and decent young people and no doubt Niamh was exactly the same,” Ms Lucey said as the young people present wept.

Insp Donal Ashe, offering his condolences to all present said it was a tragedy that could have happened to any one of the young people – if two people had been in the hole there would have been two inquests yesterday.

The garda paid tribute to the emergency services and the local people.