A coroner has warned of the dangers of drink driving as he commended the heroism of a young man who saved the life of a fellow car passenger after a crash in West Cork last summer which claimed the lives of two other men.
Coroner for West Cork, Frank O'Connell said there were lessons to be learned from the tragedy which claimed the lives of the driver, 19 year old Tadhg Murphy from Harbour View, Glengarriff and his 40 year old passenger, Michael Bowen from Ahakista.
Both men lost their lives when the VW Jetta driven by Tadgh Murphy veered off the Kenmare to Glengarriff Road and ended up in a river near Glengarriff in the early hours of August 3rd last year.
The inquests in Bantry had heard both dead men had been found to have alcohol and minute traces of cocaine in their systems following autopsies by Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margot Bolster.
The coroner also paid tribute to survivor, 23 year old Fergal O'Sullivan who, through his heroism, he said, had undoubtedly saved the life of his fellow passenger, 18 year old Luke Harrington from Glengarriff whom he managed to get out of the submerged car and perform CPR before Luke began to breathe again.
