A jury has returned a verdict of misadventure at an inquest concerning the death of a Ukrainian man who drowned after falling from a container ship at Dublin Port.
Oleksandr Kondrashyn, a 58-year-old chief engineer from Mariupol, fell from the Elbtrader after socialising with its captain in the early hours of January 12th, 2018.
A statement belonging to Vitaliy Shyrochenclo, the captain of the Samskip Express, which recalled efforts to retrieve Mr Kondrashyn from the cold water at about 4.45am, was read out at a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Friday.
Both he, Mr Kondrashyn, and the captain of the Elbtrader, Sergej Stolbov, spent several hours together on-board both ships. During this time, they boarded the Elbtrader by stepping over the railing rather than using a gangway, which he admitted was “bad practice”.
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Shortly before 4.45am, the two proceeded to return to the Samskip Express by climbing over the railing once more, with Mr Shyrochenclo stepping on to the quay first.
In the corner of his eye line, he recalled seeing “a shadow of something falling”, before realising that Mr Kondrashyn had fallen into the water.
“I tried to grab him whatever way I could and I only managed to grab his jacket,” he said.
Mr Shyrochenclo called for help before tying rope around himself and entering the water, trying to retrieve Mr Kondrashyn who was unresponsive and face down, but became weak due to the freezing water, he said, with his fingers “frozen numb”.
Mr Shyrochenclo was assisted out of the water by crew members before emergency services retrieved Mr Kondrashyn shortly after 5am. He was transported to the Mater hospital in full cardiac arrest and was pronounced deceased soon after.
“I still don’t know what led to Oleksandr falling,” he said, describing him as an experienced member of the crew, adding: “He did not appear to be drunk.”
A postmortem noted a blood-alcohol level of 208mg, the inquest heard.
Kenji Mercado, an Ordinary Seaman on-board the Elbtrader, recalled advising both men to wait for the gangway to be lowered in order for them to safely disembark, however, both climbed the rail.
Mr Kondrashyn’s death was investigated by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) which served a prohibition notice on the management of the Elbtrader.
Management subsequently held meetings with staff members and amended procedures in place concerning the use of the gangway.
The jury conveyed their sympathies to Mr Kondrashyn’s widow and family, before delivering a verdict of misadventure.
“It’s difficult because we don’t have any representative of the family, we don’t have any impression of who Mr Kondrashyn was in life except to know that it was a very tragic, sudden event,” Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said.
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