The family of a man who drowned as he went to the aid of a fellow boating enthusiast say they want him to be remembered “for his kindness”. The inquest into the death of Stephen Fergus (48), Waterview, Lower Point Road, Dundalk, heard he left his home on a Sunday to help his friend who was stuck on his boat off the Dundalk coast.
Pathologist Dr Helen Barrett said he had drowned and, asked by the family if a number of small cuts on his face meant he could have fallen getting out of the punt, she said “it was not possible to say specifically”.
The coroner returned a verdict of accidental death and said it had been “a terrible, terrible accident. He loved messing around in boats and got a call to help a friend and that is what he was going to do”.