Gas leak led to deaths on ferry

Hall heard yesterday.

Mr Seamus McLoughlin, the deputy chief surveyor of the Irish

Department of the Marine, said inadequate ventilation and air piping

contributed to the seepage of lethal hydrogen sulphide gas into the

toilet of the cabin in which Catherine and James Tomlins, aged 15 and

12, were travelling.

The pair were found dead when the ferry, the Celtic Pride, docked in

Cork harbour on August 12 after sailing from Swansea. They had been

travelling home to Cork with their parents, Gary and Maeve, and their

brother, John, five, who survived after switching cabins.

Mr McLoughlin told the hearing that while there were records of foul

smell complaints from passengers, there was no mention of complaints

about hydrogen sulphide.

There were two main problems in relation to the ferry, he said. One

was the generation of gases and the other was the lack of venting to the

toilets.

In the first compartment of the sewage system, he found the air supply

from the pipes which should have created an air-lifting of sludge to the

next compartment was not operating because two of the five pipes were

shortened and could not reach the bottom of the tank.

''When we opened up the first compartment, it was full of sludge that

should not have been there,'' he said. The cause of the problem was the

manner in which the piping was installed in the ship.

Before this incident, gas leakage was not perceived as a problem on

passenger ships, he said.

Questioned again by the coroner, he said it was quite probable that

any previous smells were hydrogen sulphide. It was an accident waiting

to happen.

The Irish authorities have passed on their findings to the

International Maritime Organisation which is meeting in London in

December.

Earlier, Mr Bill Croft, on-board manager of the Polish-owned ferry, on

charter to Swansea Cork Ferries, told the inquest there had been

previous complaints about foul smells on the ship and these were dealt

with as they arose.

Bradford-based architect and town planner Mr Tom Hancock said he had

travelled on the ship last July 22 and was awakened in Cabin 140 at

3.30am by a foul smell. The air coming through the air inlet was fresh

but he was unable to enter the bathroom of the cabin.

Mr Cornelius O'Riordan, the coroner, said: ''Given the spectacular

attainment of present-day technology, I am a little surprised by the

opinion offered by the same witness (Mr McLoughlin) that despite earlier

instances of escape of hydrogen sulphide, the tragedy still was not

within the horizon of foreseeability.''

The jury found in accordance with the medical evidence of pathologist

Dr James Lucey that in both cases death was due to respiratory failure

due to hydrogen sulphide poisoning. This is one of the most dangerous

constituents of sewer gas and it is highly toxic.