The only lifejacket worn when a party of four fishermen died in a boating tragedy in Loch Awe had a hole in it, an inquiry has been told.
Without fully functioning lifejackets, the men would have stood little chance in the near-freezing waters of Loch Awe, Professor Michael Tipton, of the University of Southampton, told a Fatal Accident Inquiry at Oban Sherrif Court yesterday.
It remains unclear how the small boat in which the Glasgow men Craig Currie, 30, Thomas Douglas, 36, William Carty, 47, and Stephen Carty, 42, fatally capsized. They were making a nightime crossing of the fogbound loch in March 2009 as they attempted to return to their campsite after an evening spent in the pub.
Professor Tipton, who is a leading authority on the effects of cold water shock, said that without suitable lifesaving equipment any possibility of living through an hour or more of immersion would have been a matter of chance.
“Their [chances of] survival would have significantly increased had they been wearing lifejackets — working life jackets as opposed to buoyancy aids.
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“If you are not wearing a lifejacket, really it’s down to luck,” he said.
The inquiry heard that a toxicology report showed a moderate level of alcohol in Stephen Carty and low levels of alcohol in the other three men. Past use of cannabis was also detected in William Carty and Mr Currie.
Professor Tipton said that consumption of alcohol would not directly affect a person’s survival time in the water, but it could affect their actions and decision making.
The inquiry was told that none of the four men had been wearing waterproof clothing, which would have given them extra protection in the water, which at the time of the incident was about 5C.
Procurator Fiscal Craig Harris said that although Stephen Carty had been wearing a lifejacket it had not been inflated, and when found had no cord mechanism on it to allow this, and was not fit for purpose as it had a hole in it. He said: “There was a puncture, a 6mm long by 5mm wide hole, in the lifejacket.”
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The bodies of Stephen Carty and Mr Douglas were found near an island in the loch two months after the night of the disaster, when the bodies of the other men had been recovered. Professor Tipton surmised that they had been separated from the boat when it capsized.
He said the facts indicated that something “fairly catastrophic” had happened to them in the water. He added that the two men may have been submerged, then separated from the other two.
“Trying to piece it together, it would seem to suggest to me that these two gentlemen who were found some weeks later had an acute problem on the capsize, or the rapid sinking, of the boat.”
The inquiry heard that William Carty and Mr Currie had been wearing light buoyancy aids which were unsuitable to save them in the emergency situation they faced in the water. Lifejackets are designed to keep the head above water and the airway clear should the wearer fall unconscious, whereas buoyancy aids are not.
Professor Tipton said: “Staying afloat in cold water is incredibly difficult. People cool about four to five times faster in cold weather than in air of the same temperature.” He added that people quickly become incapacitated by the shock effects of being in cold water, affecting the use of their limbs and making it difficult to move, swim, or even grasp hold of something which could save them, wiping out their ability to help themselves. Alternatively, they could be unable to act because they had become unconscious.
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The inquiry continues.