Inquest told of death of fit 59-year-old man from heart attack during Croagh Patrick descend

A 59-year-old father of three 'started wobbling' while descending Croagh Patrick last June before collapsing into the arms of a fellow pilgrim who stopped to assist him, an inquest has been told.

The inquiry into the sudden death of Michael Joseph (Joe) Owens, Ballyfruit, Headford, Co. Galway, on the slopes of Croagh Patrick on June 2 last was conducted at Ballina Courthouse by the Coroner for the District of Mayo, Dr. Eleanor Fitzgerald.

In a statement to gardaí which was read to the hearing, Cathal Divilly, who was ascending the mountain with his son, gave a detailed account of Mr. Owen’s last moments on what he described as 'the plateau section', half way up.

“We saw a man sitting on a rock about 20 metres away from us,” the witness outlined.

“As we approached he got up and started coming towards us. He started wobbling and was very unsteady on his feet.

“He looked at me and he was about to faint so I called out to him to stop. He said ‘I am just feeling dizzy’.

“He fell forward. I managed to catch him and put him lying on the ground.

“He went blue. I believed he was going into cardiac arrest.

“I talked to him, urging him to stay with me but he wasn’t responsive.”

Despite CPR Mr. Owens passed away on the mountain and was carried to the base of the mountain by members of Mayo Mountain Rescue before being transferred to the morgue of Mayo University Hospital.

A post-mortem report indicating 50 per cent stenosis (blockage) in a coronary artery was furnished by consultant pathologist Dr. Fadel Bennani.

When Dr. Bennani was asked by the coroner if in layman’s terms what happened to Mr. Owens could be classified as a heart attack, Dr. Bennani replied in the affirmative.

Clare Owens, widow of the deceased, described her husband as a fit person who often climbed Croagh Patrick and had scaled Kilimanjaro in Africa.

Ms. Owens said to her knowledge her husband never had chest pain or suffered from vertigo.

Before returning a verdict of death from natural causes Coroner Fitzgerald noted that stenosis in a coronary artery can trigger arrhythmia (abnormality in the heart’s rhythm).

“It happens without warning. It can occur suddenly and unexpectedly,” she said.

The coroner praised the response of fellow pilgrims and emergency responders to Mr. Owens’ plight, stating that it was a source of great comfort that he was so well attended to.

* Funded under the Courts Reporting Scheme.