A man who died while scuba diving off the coast of Donegal suffered a heart attack, an inquest into his death has found.<\/p>\n
Patrick Doran, of Finisklin, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co. Leitrim, was one of more than one hundred divers taking part in a planned two-day event organised by the Donegal Bay Sub Aqua Club in June last year.<\/p>\n
An inquest into his death was held earlier today by Donegal coroner Dr Denis McCauley at Letterkenny Courthouse.<\/p>\n
Outlining the details of the inquest, Dr McCauley noted that this was one of three separate fatal diving incidents within a six-week period off the coast of Donegal.<\/p>\n
Evidence was given on behalf of Garda Sergeant Mark Colgan of Glenties Garda Station who said he had been alerted by Malin Head Coast at 12.45pm on June 22nd, 2024 that there was an incident at Teelin Pier.<\/p>\n
Two males were reported to be on the pier, one was unresponsive and the other was being treated for decompression sickness.<\/p>\n
Sergeant Colgan said that when he arrived at the pier, he spoke to Dr Gerry Murray who said that efforts to revive Patrick Doran including CPR had been unsuccessful and that he had pronounced him dead at 1.19pm.<\/p>\n
Another diver, Mr Gerry Gilroy, had been taken from the scene following medical assessment for treatment to Galway University Hospital.<\/p>\n
The diving equipment of both Mr Doran and Mr Gilroy were recovered by Garda Sub Aqua Divers and handed to Sergeant Colgan to allow it to be examined.<\/p>\n
The inquest was told that the equipment was later examined by expert Mr David James Gratton who said he could not find any specific flaws with any of the diving equipment.<\/p>\n
Mr Doran\u2019s wife Siobhan Doran confirmed to the inquest that she identified her late husband to Garda Sergeant Hugh McCann at Sligo University Hospital.<\/p>\n
Pathologist Dr Gerry O\u2019Dowd read out a statement on behalf of Dr Paul Hartel of Sligo University Hospital, who carried out an autopsy on the late Mr Doran.<\/p>\n
Dr Hartel\u2019s report revealed that there was no sign of any external injuries to Mr Doran.<\/p>\n
However, he noted that there was severe coronary heart disease at what he described as \u201can unusually advanced level\u201d for a man of his age.<\/p>\n
He suggested death was due to severe coronary artery disease with Acute Myocardial Infarction.<\/p>\n
Coroner Dr McCauley said he was satisfied from Mr Gratton\u2019s report that there was sufficient gas in his diving cylinder and that the \u2018buddy pairing\u2019 with another diver had been appropriate. <\/p>\n
He noted Mr Doran\u2019s death had happened during a \u201cdevastating month or six week period in which we had three diving incidents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commenting on the findings of the autopsy, Dr McCauley said he agreed and that in this incident he felt the man\u2019s coronary artery disease was very severe and that the dive was irrelevant to his death and that Mr Doran could have passed away while \u201cwalking Errigal Mountain or walking along the road.<\/p>\n
He said the cause of death was Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) or heart attack and that he died as a result of natural causes.<\/p>\n
Dr McCauley and Garda Sergeant Jim Collins both offered their condolences to Mr Doran\u2019s wife, Siobhan, and to his extended family.<\/p>\n
Man who died in diving incident off Donegal coast suffered heart attack, inquests finds was last modified: December 12th, 2025 by Staff Writer<\/p>\n
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