Officer died after inhaling gases

A young Canadian naval officer who died following the inhalation of hot gases after fire swept through a submarine had been unable to find a gas mask in the smoke-filled vessel, an inquest in Sligo heard yesterday.

Sligo's coroner's court heard poignant evidence about how Lieut Chris Saunders (32) had gone into cardiac arrest as the submarine pitched at 30-degree angles on the rough seas 110 miles northwest of Sligo.

There was no power in the vessel which made a rescue mission by an RAF helicopter even more difficult. Lieut Saunders was one of the crew on board the HMCS Chicoutimi, one of four submarines sold to Canada by Britain.

An RAF helicopter airlifted the deceased, a maritime engineer, to Sligo General Hospital 24 hours after the fire started on October 5th, 2004, but he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Col David Sanschagrin of the Canadian forces, who travelled from Ottawa for the inquest, said an inquiry had been held into the incident which had resulted in nine casualties and one fatality.

The jury heard that the first of two fires on the vessel started after a high wave swept water into the submarine while a hatch was being repaired. A second related fire swept through electric cables and, for safety reasons, all power was switched off, leaving the vessel in darkness.

Lieut Saunders had, in accordance with the drill, made his way to the control room to get a mask but in the pitch darkness was unable to do so and lost consciousness and lay on the floor for an undetermined period.

State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy, who carried out a postmortem on Lieut Saunders's body, concluded he died after inhaling hot fire gases while trying to extinguish a fire on board the submarine.

She understood there was oxygen on board but it was being shared and there was not enough to keep Lieut Saunders going.

The jury found in accordance with Dr Cassidy's evidence that death was due to acute respiratory distress syndrome following the inhalation of hot fire gases.

Pressed by the coroner, Dr Desmond Moran, as to why it took over 24 hours for Lieut Saunders to be taken off the vessel, Col Sanschagrin said the commanding officer had to weigh up the safety implications of getting a physician on board or somebody off the vessel, which was pitching back and forth and was without power.