Three men have drowned on a Cornish coast while the Royal National Lifeboat Society’s lifeguard service is affected by the coronavirus pandemic, a coroner has announced.
Cornwall’s chief coroner, Andrew Cox, said he would write to the UK government and the UK Covid-19 Inquiry to highlight the issues raised during the inquest into the three deaths. .
Mr Cox recorded an unfortunate conclusion for all three, saying normally there would have been lifeguards on all three beaches.
A Truro inquest heard that Michael Pender, 63, drowned in Treanon Bay on the north coast in May 2020. Jan Klemper (30) in June of the same year in Porthcurno, in the south. Paul Mullen, 56, passed away in August 2020 at Church Cove, Lizard Island, the southernmost tip of mainland Britain.
Mr Pender, a local man who was an excellent swimmer, dived into the waves to cool off, but the strong currents made it difficult, a five-day post-mortem report said.
Mr Klemper, from Walsall, West Midlands, was on a beach trip with his family when a large wave swept him out to sea. Lifeguard services returned to the beach two days later.
Mr Mullen, from Hertfordshire, said his 14-year-old son had fallen on hard times and drowned while jumping into the sea. The boy was rescued by helicopter, but his father was not.
Mr Cox criticized the UK government for not giving the RNLI advance warning about the lifting of coronavirus restrictions – something the inquest heard the government had promised. The inquest heard seasonal lifeguards were not allowed to be furloughed and some had gone to look for other jobs.
Mr Cox said a single government department should have taken the lead. he said: “In my judgment, [the deaths were] It wasn’t for a lack of effort on the part of the RNLI, but rather that they moved mountains to provide the service. ”
Paul Mullen’s wife Eleanor said in a statement that she was “surprised there were no lifeguards”.
In May 2020, shortly before the first drowning incident, the RNLI announced that it planned to provide lifeguard support to around a third of the beaches it normally patrols once lockdown restrictions eased. .
At the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, the RNLI said it would be very difficult to suddenly ramp up the service because not enough lifeguards were trained.charity To tell In 2022, 1,632 RNLI lifeguards provided rescues on 242 beaches across the UK and Channel Islands. They participated in her 18,897 cases, helped 23,204 people and saved 117 lives.
