The remains of a young Latvian man who went missing while fishing at sea were discovered by another fishing vessel five months after he disappeared, an inquest has heard.
Juris Danileus (32), of Hoor Rock, Skerries, Co Dublin, was working on a fishing trawler, the Nauticus, in the Irish Sea, when he was reported missing on April 18th, 2006, Dublin County Coroner's Court heard yesterday.
His remains were later recovered from the sea by another fishing vessel, the Darnette, in the early hours of September 6th, 2006, when the vessel was hauling in its catch.
Dublin county coroner Dr Kieran Geraghty said that due to the decomposed nature of Mr Danileus's body, it had been impossible to determine the exact cause of death. He returned an open verdict. Skipper of the NauticusKenneth Russell told the court that the trawler, along with its crew of five fishermen, all of whom were Latvian, left Skerries harbour at approximately 4am on April 18th.
Mr Russell told the inquest he saw Mr Danileus at about 8.45am that morning when he went down to the galley to make a cup of tea and Mr Danileus was watching TV. The rest of the crew were asleep at the time.
Mr Danileus subsequently came up to the wheelhouse, where Mr Russell was sitting, and looked in. That was the last time he saw him, he told the court.
When Mr Russell called the crew to man the deck at about 10.45am, there was no sign of Mr Danileus. Mr Russell said he was not aware of any problems Mr Danileus had and that it was only his third day working for him.
The skipper of the Darnette, Richard Brannigan, told the inquest that on September 6th, 2006, they hauled in the remains of a human body in a net. "Because Mr Danileus went overboard on his own I cannot reach a decision as to whether it was accidental or not," said Dr Geraghty.