The story of the green transition is often told through technology. But behind the blades and cables are people – engineers, medics and advocates – whose work, and lives, are shaped by the winds of change
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“Bloody hell, it’s enormous!” That was my first reaction on seeing a new wind turbine blade at close quarters, outside its factory in the city of Baoding, China’s renewable energy powerhouse. That visit some years ago brought home to me the sheer scale of the technology. It was an impression confirmed later, gazing out from the north Kent coast at the vast London Array offshore farm, and then standing under a towering turbine as it spun its slow circles high above a maize field in Germany. Scale and grace.
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But there was one glaring absence from all my marvelling: people. Out there, these mighty engines seemed to stand alone. Which, of course, is nonsense. Because they wouldn’t be there in the first place, let alone keep spinning out reliable megawatts of power, if they didn’t have a dedicated crew of humans involved at every stage: planning, installing, laying cables, sinking steel and concrete, fine-tuning soft- and hardware every step of the way – and caring for each other as they do so, in some pretty challenging, sometimes remote, environments.
It’s time to put them back in the picture. With that in mind, here are glimpses of three people who keep the winds of change blowing strong.
Saving lives offshore
Mike Amos, offshore paramedic
Dealing with everything from heart attacks and hernias to sleeplessness and depression is all in a day’s work for a medic – and that’s true for Mike Amos, too. But unlike him, few get to do so in the middle of a storm way out in the South China Sea, or on the waves over the Dogger Bank.
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As a qualified offshore paramedic, Amos’ base is on the boats working on some of the world’s massive windfarms. Which means sometimes he might be up the top of a turbine, running a practice drill evacuating a casualty down the tower, and next doing the same 30 metres below sea level.
In spite of the challenging conditions at sea – and doubtless because of his scrupulous attention to health and safety – real emergencies are rare. But they do happen: a heart attack in the North Sea, a hand crushed as a typhoon lashed the boat off Taiwan. Both casualties were brought safely to shore.
As a qualifed offshore paramedic, Amos’ base is on the boats working on some of the world’s massive windfarms. Image: Gordon Burniston
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Often it’s “just colds and Lemsips”, says Amos. But there are other, more insidious health challenges too. A bunch of blokes (“and they are 99% blokes for now, though more women are starting to come into the industry”) cooped up on a ship for weeks on end, far from home and loved ones, inevitably throws up other challenges. Amos sees his role as teasing out what’s really going on, sometimes from men who are reluctant to open up. His down-to-earth, friendly Glaswegian manner helps. “They might come with a bad back or little niggles, maybe hoping you’ll sign them off as unfit for work that night, but then you might realise there are issues at home.”
Early experience in the ambulance service helps, too, he says, “going into people’s homes, noticing the small things”, assessing what’s really going on. “I make it my business to know what’s happening all over the vessel.”
Amos joins in with volleyball and workout sessions (“exercise is vital when you’re stuck on a ship”), and with blokey chats in the sauna. “It’s good to break down any barriers, get to know the crew, then it’s easier for them to approach you.”
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I just love it. I love the ethos, the camaraderie. I love the way things work. I love the vessel life. I basically love the buzz of the offshore wind
As we speak, he’s on holiday with his wife and two children in Mexico, about to head off to a new posting on the Empire windfarm off Long Island, which is set to be the first to connect to the New York City grid.
Spending up to six weeks offshore is tough for a man with a young family, but the equal amount of time on leave is appealing – and there are gaps between assignments, too. Like all the wind workers I’ve spoken to, Amos enjoys his holidays, but also uses the time to study for the latest in professional qualifcations. As he puts it: “You have to have continuous personal development to stand out from the crowd.” He still does some shifts as ambulance crew, too. “It’s nice to get back out on the road again, keeps me in touch with the practice – and also reminds me why I’m not working for the NHS any more.”
He and his family are planning on emigrating to Spain shortly, but says he’s in the offshore business for the long term. “I just love it. I love the ethos, the camaraderie. I love the way things work. I love the vessel life. I basically love the buzz of the offshore wind.”
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Sky high and grounded
Grzegorz Kędzierski, commissioning engineer
Grzegorz Kędzierski (‘Greg’ to his workmates) has a head for heights. And just as well. Some wind turbines are 150 metres tall, or more. So it’s good to know they come equipped with lifts. But these can’t be switched on until the electrics are thoroughly checked – which is the responsibility of commissioning engineers like Greg. Until then, the only way up is by ladder, a very long way indeed. And when you’re up top and the wind is blowing, he says, “you can feel like you’re on the sea. Because the turbine is designed to give a little, to respond to the wind. It can shift, two, three metres each side. If it’s too rigid, it could fall over.”
Kędzierski’s responsibilities include checking “each and every one” of the many electrical connections and software within the turbines: a sophisticated array of controls that allow them to operate safely and deliver “the best quality power”. It’s a role that has taken him from his native Poland to the Mekong delta in Vietnam, from the far north of Sweden to Japan, and out on the waves of the North Sea.
The same sense of balance that helps him cope with the sway at the top of the turbines does so on the water too. Does he ever get sea sick? “No, never have.” But working offshore brings other challenges. “You have to plan ahead: when you’re far out at sea, you can’t go back to base and pick up a forgotten tool. You have to take everything you might possibly need, and then more.”
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Working remotely suits his nature. “I don’t like to stay in one place for long.” The project placements are typically two weeks on, two weeks off. But the work period can be longer when in remote regions or offshore. Then he says he can feel homesick. Home has an added attraction now, in the form of an EA300 small acrobatic plane. Flying was Kędzierski’s first love, and at one point he contemplated changing careers: he was poised to become a commercial pilot, had all the necessary certifications, but then Covid hit, and “switched off the aviation market … I came back to the wind business. It was a good decision: flying can be my hobby instead.”
Sometimes, I like to go out on the top of a turbine and stay there for a while, watching the world from above
So he spent the savings he’d accumulated from his turbine work “not on a house or a fat”, but the plane, and is busy training for national aerobatics competitions, practising flying in close formation alongside a pilot friend.
Does it have anything in common with his day job? Safety and precision, says Kędzierski. “You have to follow very strict procedures. Otherwise you risk harm to yourself, and to others.”
But that doesn’t mean there’s no romance to it all. Whether in his plane or on the height of a windfarm, he says, “I love the sense of space.”
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“Sometimes,” he adds, “I like to go out on the top of a turbine and stay there for a while, watching the world from above.” And, of course, looking forward to his next fight. “The sky is no longer the limit,” he declared. “It’s the playground!”
Power, precision and people
Chris Akehurst, offshore client representative
If you’ve ever wondered just how those vast offshore windfarms shimmering over the seas on the horizon get to be there in the first place, Chris Akehurst is your man. As an offshore client representative specialising in heavy-lift turbine foundations, he’s the one who makes sure they happen.
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Heavy is the operative word. “People don’t realise just how huge these turbines are, or how much power they can generate. They might see one [when they’re] driving down a country lane, and think: ‘that’s big’, but the latest offshore ones are colossal. They can be 240 metres from sea level to the top of the spinning blade. One [huge] windfarm can power up a city now. It’s crazy.”
All that requires some seriously heavy lifting. Akehurst talks of shifting vast 500-tonne steel piles into place and hammering them into the seabed; of huge cranes lifting 2,500 tonnes’ worth of foundations – all from a vessel miles offshore. And behind all that heft and power there are human guiding hands. “It’s about people and precision,” he says. “Every lift, every connection – there’s human judgement behind the technology.”
Every lift, every connection – there’s human judgement behind the technology
People, precision – and a little playfulness, too. Akehurst’s email signature features a charming little line graphic of a boat chugging across the waves to the foot of a turbine, where two men climb out and head up the tower. He’s a natural communicator, popping up on podcasts like Joe Leather’s Wind, Waves and Wells, on which he combines a respect for the natural environment and enthusiasm for the green transition with some robust engineering speak. “When you’re out there, 50 miles offshore, the wind isn’t just power – it’s personality. You learn to work with it, not against it.”
He spent some of his youth in Germany, where his British army father Power, precision and people: Chris Akehurst was stationed, spent a while in the forces himself and then in construction, where “after a year, I saw my first tower crane, and thought: ‘I’ll have a piece of that!’ So, I climbed up the crane, and that was it. From that day on for the next 10 years, I was operating tower cranes.”
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He took a range of courses to be better qualified, not least in the tough discipline of heavy-lift supervision, and then moved into the world of wind.
‘It’s a small world offshore’ says Akehurst. ‘You depend on each other – safety, timing, even morale. That’s what makes this work special’. Image: Asnaya Chou
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For the last few years, Akehurst has mainly been based in Taiwan, helping turn on-paper plans into actual windfarms at sea. “It’s a mix of technical oversight, a bit of project management, and plenty of problem-solving when things don’t go to plan.” He helps oversee the whole process “from the first foundation to the last turbine”, which can take over two years.
The teams he’s overseeing contain a multitude of nationalities, from as many as 25 countries, at times, “all packed together on the vessel” far from shore. That brings its own logistical challenges. “These guys are fit, healthy. They like their food,” notes Akehurst. “The logistics have to be spot on, because when you start running out of food, the guys start getting upset.”
He’s impressed at how Asia’s youth is coming onstream in the offshore world. “You can see pride growing: local technicians and engineers stepping into roles that didn’t even exist here five years ago.” By contrast, he warns: “Countries such as the UK and Germany are way ahead in renewables, but risk a shortage of qualified, experienced people soon, so they need to bring a new generation through.”
Meanwhile, the naturally gregarious Akehurst says he enjoys the sense of shared purpose that cuts across cultures and disciplines. “It’s a small world offshore. You depend on each other – safety, timing, even morale,” he says. “That’s what makes this work special.”
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Main image: Mike Amos, photographed by Gordon Burniston
Chelsea trailed through Douglas Luiz’s early opener but were ahead by the half-time interval thanks to two goals from Joao Pedro.
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Cole Palmer added a third shortly after half-time before Pedro completed his hat-trick and put the game to bed just after the hour mark.
The emphatic win sends Chelsea back above Liverpool into fifth-place, three points behind Manchester United and Aston Villa in third and fourth respectively.
Explaining why he decided to change his No. 1 for the trip to Villa, Rosenior said: ‘Rob [Sanchez] is an outstanding goalkeeper.
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Filip Jorgensen was favoured against Aston Villa (Picture: Getty)
‘I just saw Filip [Jorgensen] in training and sometimes as a manager you have to go with your gut.
‘Filip gave us something different and they will both be fighting it out for the rest of the season.’
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Discussing Chelsea’s emphatic win, Rosenior added: ‘We knew coming into the game in terms of the season and what we want to achieve that it was a big game.
Joao Pedro scored a hat-trick for Chelsea (Picture: Getty)
‘The team stepped up. I thought it was an outstanding team performance. Obviously, Joao will get the plaudits and rightly so but some of our possession play, our incision, pressing, our energy, our commitment to defend was top but it needs to continue.
‘We started the game really, really, well and then they score through a fantastic finish.
‘We’ve had a few setbacks, but we’ve spoken a lot as a group in a positive way and we definitely showed that tonight.’
Pedro, meanwhile, was delighted to register his first Chelsea hat-trick as the Blues gave a superb response to a disappointing derby defeat to Arsenal.
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‘I think it is a special night for me,’ he told TNT Sports. ‘I was waiting for this moment.
‘I work a lot to be ready for this moment and I have great players around me so I try to always be in the right place and today I could score three goals.
Unai Emery admitted Chelsea ‘dominated’ Aston Villa (Picture: Getty)
‘In the whole season we try to be consistent but have dropped too many points at home but now we need to look forward and do our best every game.’
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery admitted his team were ‘dominated’ by their top-four rivals and said it was crucial to ‘find solutions’ after suffering back-to-back defeats.
‘We competed but they dominated more in the first half,’ Emery said. ‘The match was equal in the result and so tight but they were playing better than us.
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‘After they scored their third goal they had complete confidence in the match. We tried but it was not enough.
‘We are now in a bad moment. Chelsea are so happy and deserved to win. The consistency is very important but now we are not being consistent.
‘In 29 matches we have been better than them but not today. Now we have to find solutions and recover our confidence and good form.’
Chelsea face Championship side Wrexham in the FA Cup on Saturday while Aston Villa’s next fixture is a Europa League knockout game against Lille.
The scale of the dredging campaign in Whitby Harbour is set to be accelerated after restrictions were relaxed by the government’s Marine Management Organisation (MMO).
Dredging removes silt and sand at the bottom of harbours to help ensure they remain operational.
Chris Bourne, North Yorkshire Council’s head of harbours and coastal infrastructure, said: “We’ve been somewhat hampered by the conditions that are attached to the dredging licence around the quantities that can be removed and also an exclusion area around Endeavour Wharf.
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“We’ve been working very, very hard to try to remove or relax those conditions and I’m pleased to say that last week the MMO did agree to remove the 5,000 tonne limit per month on dredging.
“So that does mean we can achieve more dredging and get the harbour dredging subject to the weather and sea conditions.”
Last summer, the council announced it would resume dredging in Whitby with its vessel Sandsend, after securing a new licence.
The authority previously said it was “regrettable that the dredging licence was allowed to expire”.
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Dredging work has also been undertaken by the council in Scarborough.
According to the Environment Agency, dredging and desilting can have “serious and long-lasting negative impacts on the environment”.
“For example, it can damage or destroy fish spawning grounds and make river banks unstable,” the agency said.
Speaking at a meeting in Whitby on March 2, Mr Bourne said: “Dredging is without a doubt the most important thing in both of the harbours.
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“There was no dredging for a period of years, and it proved almost impossible to secure the dredging licences.
“We’ve now managed to secure them, and we’re managing to remove some of the associated conditions with those, so dredging is ongoing now in Whitby, and it will be in Scarborough as well.”
Mr Bourne said that following the completion of the dredging campaign in Whitby, the council’s dredger, Sandsend, will go to Scarborough, after which it will return to Whitby for a second campaign.
“Dredging will be ongoing throughout this year,” he added.
She fled the scene, leaving another of her neighbours, who was her passenger, with numerous life changing injuries
A woman who crashed a car while drunk, left her passenger with life changing injuries. Martyna Bryniak, 38, crashed her neighbour’s car into trees in Goldhay Way, Peterborough, after taking it without permission on March 9 last year.
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She fled the scene, leaving her passenger with numerous life changing injuries, including shattered bones in her leg. Bryniak was arrested at her home in Hinchcliffe after she was identified as the driver.
She failed the initial breath test and provided an evidential sample which revealed she was over the legal limit of alcohol.
Bryniak pleaded guilty to drink driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking and driving without insurance. The 38-year-old appeared at Huntingdon Law Courts on Thursday (February 26), where she was handed a two-year driving ban and sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for two years.
The court also ordered Bryniak to pay £5000 in compensation, complete a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement, and 100 hours of unpaid work.
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According to Cambridgeshire Police, the judge, in sentencing, said the devastation and damage was “all caused by your decision to put your foot on the pedal that took you both on that journey.”
Sergeant Ben Chance, who investigated, said: “Bryniak made the choice to not only get behind the wheel of a car without permission, but also knowing she was under the influence of alcohol.
“Her actions have had a significant impact – physically, emotionally, and financially – on the lives of the victim and the victim’s family.”
As an 11-year-old, travelling over from Denmark, Osula had won a soccer school skills competition at Manchester United and this was the football of the playground with a storyline to match.
The noise when the ball nestled in the net almost blew the roof off St James’ Park. As did the roar at the final whistle.
“He had one moment to show his speed and his legs,” Eddie Howe, the Newcastle head coach, said. “It’s a remarkable goal and that is his strength, his speed with the ball. He asked for 10 extra balls after training yesterday to practice that exact finish. He scored eight out 10 and delivered when it mattered most. That was not an easy finish.”
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A team under pressure after three successive home defeats in the league; a team, with their backs against the wall during a really challenging period in their season delivered a remarkable victory.
It will silence any talk Howe no longer commands the respect of the dressing room. They gave everything they had to him and each other. To a man they were superb, sharp, aggressive and bold, with 11 men on the pitch and even more so with ten.
“We needed that, we know we did,” said Howe. “We have been in a difficult run in the league, we have found ways to lose games that we shouldn’t but tonight we refused to stop believing we could win this game. That is the biggest compliment I can pay the players. The collective mentality to defend our goal, it was a big step up.”
There is something about adversity, that burning sense of injustice that brings out the best in Newcastle. And this was a performance fuelled by defiance and anger.
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Having looked the more dangerous side for most of the first half, the home crowd and players were incensed when Jacob Ramsey was dismissed, shown a second yellow card for simulation in the first minute of added time.
The Justice Department has reportedly abandoned a prospective case about the Biden administration’s use of an autopen, which President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have long alleged were part of a cover-up meant to hide his predecessor’s cognitive decline.
Veteran prosecutors were skeptical of the case to begin with and were unsure of what crime former President Joe Biden or his aides could be charged with committing, The New York Times reports, citing three unnamed people briefed on the probe.
The abandoned investigation, which began in 2025, marks the latest stumble in the president’s campaign to launch high-profile federal investigations against his political rivals.
Biden has said he “made every decision” under scrutiny by his critics, though he used an autopen, which are common for government officials, to sign some documents.
The Justice Department has reportedly dropped a potential case into the Biden administration’s use of an autopen, the latest failure in the president’s attempts to launch federal cases against his political enemies (The White House)
A Republican-led House report released in October claimed the autopen allegations ranked among the “greatest scandals” in American presidential history, though it conceded that “not one of the Committee’s 14 witnesses” did “admit that they ever had a concern about President Biden being in cognitive decline.”
The Constitution doesn’t require a pardons be in writing or be directly signed by the president, according to legal scholars.
The DOJ also reportedly failed to secure an indictment against a group of lawmakers, including Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona (pictured), who took part in a video encouraging military members to ignore ‘illegal’ orders (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
A former prosecutor who once worked in the U.S. attorney’s office has called Pirro’s failure to win a grand jury indictment, a rarity in federal court, a major shock.
“The average person doesn’t appreciate how stunning,” the official told Politico.
“The rules are skewed so heavily in favor of the prosecutor that it’s almost comical,” they added. “But the public is essentially saying, ‘We do not trust you. We are skeptical of you.’”
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In Minnesota, meanwhile, the administration’s handling of the investigation into an ICE agent fatally shooting Renee Good in Minneapolis in January has prompted multiple federal prosecutors to resign.
British passengers and hundreds of other holidaymakers are stranded on six cruise ships in Dubai and Abu Dhabi after missiles were intercepted nearby during the Iran-US conflict.
Simon Hamalienko, Peter Hennessy and Liam Doyle
00:12, 05 Mar 2026Updated 00:16, 05 Mar 2026
British holidaymakers and hundreds of other travellers have been plunged into a cruise nightmare after their liner became stranded in the crisis-hit Middle East.
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Those passengers have since described the chaos unfolding on their cruise liners, including hearing “loud bangs” as missiles are intercepted in close proximity.
Speaking to CNN, Lesley Ballantyne, from Scotland, revealed that she and her husband woke one morning aboard the ship to find an emergency alert flashing on their mobile phones. She explained that the message had instructed them to “seek immediate shelter in the closest secure building” due to the imminent threat, reports the Daily Star.
She informed the broadcaster that, whilst her husband noticed nothing when glancing out of the window that morning, the couple subsequently “heard some loud bangs” and had “seen some missiles being intercepted from the ship”. The safety warning reached them on Saturday, and as of 4 March, the couple along with thousands of other passengers remain stuck aboard the vessel when it should be continuing its voyage around the Middle East.
Their cruise ship, the MSC Euribia, was meant to be following a route that would take it through to Europe later this year.
To access the open waters, it would have needed passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway off Iran’s southern coast that serves as the only maritime route linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and onwards to the open sea.
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Iran, however, has warned that it would prevent ships from passing through the strait during the ongoing conflict, with the regime even threatening to “burn every ship”. Cruise companies have confirmed passengers will stay on their ships whilst the hostilities continue, stating they are closely monitoring the situation.
One person stranded on the Euribia, an unnamed user posting in a Facebook group for the cruise ship, stated they were “constantly hearing explosions” from their position in Dubai. A further Italian passenger noted that the atmosphere remains “calm”, adding that travellers are permitted to leave the vessels but have been urged to “stay inside for the time being”.
She wrote: “The situation is calm, there’s a possibility to go out but the recommendations are to stay inside for the time being.”
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A number of other ships remain stranded alongside the Euribia, among them the Celestyal Discovery in Dubai, its sister vessel the Celestyal Journey, currently moored in Doha, along with two TUI cruise ships — the Mein Schiff 5 in Doha and the Mein Schiff 4 in Abu Dhabi.
TUI Cruises confirmed in a statement released earlier today that approximately 218 passengers from the Mein Schiff 4 have departed on a specially arranged Emirates flight bound for Munich.
Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton said of Nygren on Sky Sports: “What a strange player. He can go missing in midfield but comes up with goals.”
Just as well given Daizen Maeda is still looking like a shadow of the player who lit up Scottish football last season, January loan signings Tomas Cvancara and Junior Adamu have yet to fully impress and Kelechi Iheanacho has disappeared from view despite his return from injury.
Nygren is not one of the title winners Tierney talked about in Celtic’s squad, but the 24-year-old Sweden midfielder is doing more than most to make sure he gets that league winners’ medal.
Former Celtic midfielder Scott Allan enthused on BBC Radio Scotland’s Sportsound: “The impact substitutes you’ve seen at the weekend, you’ve seen it again tonight with Benjamin Nygren and James Forrest linking up.
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“Lovely tee-up from Forrest and Nygren just finishes – we’ve seen that time and time again and he’s had a real impact in this team.”
Indeed, Nygren has found the net three times and provided one assist in his latest four Premiership games – and his 15 goals are more than any other Celtic player in the league this season.
“I know Nygren gives up certain parts of the game, but what he does do is he gets into the box and gets on the end of things,” Allan said.
“I felt his overall play in the game was really good, played some lovely through balls, always looked like he was going to be a threat round about that 18-yard box and he was the difference again tonight.”
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His manager was similary enthusiastic.
“He’s doing something that is the most difficult thing in the game – to score goals -and he’s popped up again with what proved to be the winning goal,” O’Neill said.
“Substitutes in recent weeks have made big contributions to us, so that’s important for us.”
A new podcast titled Beware Book revisits a string of brutal murders in Glasgow between 1991 and 2005, including the 2005 murder of 27-year-old Emma Caldwell
A new Rayo Original Podcast, Beware Book, revisits a series of brutal murders that shocked Glasgow between 1991 and 2005 and asks a haunting question – why have so many of the victims still not seen justice?
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Over 14 years, eight women involved in prostitution were mercilessly killed, and at least four of those cases remain unsolved today – Diane McInally’s, Karen McGregor’s, Leona McGovern’s and Jacqueline Gallagher’s cases.
The killings happened during a turbulent chapter in the city’s history. Glasgow was grappling with soaring unemployment, high crime rates and the tightening grip of heroin addiction. The women, many already living on the margins of society, were left particularly vulnerable. Due to their distrustful of the authorities and fearing for their safety, they relied heavily on one another.
To try to protect themselves, they recorded warnings about violent or suspicious clients in a battered leather journal that became known among them as the ‘Beware Book’.
Now, journalists Collette McGonigle and Callum McQuade of Clyde 1 revisit these tragic stories that devastated families, re-examining the investigations and asking difficult questions about whether opportunities were missed and whether prejudice may have shaped how the cases were handled at the time.
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The most high-profile case – the murder of Emma Caldwell – was finally solved in 2024, when Iain Packer was convicted, 19 years after her death. After covering the trial Collette and Callum revisited the other unsolved killings, questioning whether they were investigated thoroughly and without prejudice, and whether opportunities to catch Emma’s killer earlier were missed.
The podcast will feature deeply personal interviews with the victims’ loved ones, many speaking publicly for the first time. As well as a former investigating officer, who will share his thoughts on where the Beware Book might be today.
Listeners will also hear from Iain Packer’s earliest known victim and from former officers who all believe the full extent of his violent past is only now coming to light.
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The series highlights the struggles faced by women on the margins and the failures of a justice system that often overlooked them.
“At its heart, Beware Book is about restoring dignity to women whose lives were often reduced to headlines,” the journalists say. “It’s about amplifying the voices of families who feel forgotten by the justice system.”
The podcast will examine whether renewed attention could finally bring answers forward and some measures of peace to those left behind.
The first two episodes of Beware Book will be available from March 23, with a new episode released every Monday for five weeks. The podcast is available on the Rayo app, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts from March 23.
Coroner Loretta Nolan called for swimming lessons to be made a formal part of the curriculum at secondary school level
A coroner has called for regular inspections to be carried out on the accessibility of lifebuoys after an inquest heard friends of a teenager who got into difficulty while swimming in the Grand Canal could not untie a lifebuoy from its stand to assist in attempts to rescue him.
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A sitting of Kildare Coroner’s Court heard Max O’Connor (15) from Newcastle, Co Dublin drowned while swimming in the canal at the 13th Lock between Ardclough and Celbridge, Co Kildare on May 11, 2024.
The coroner, Loretta Nolan, issued a number of riders to her verdict after hearing evidence from several eyewitnesses about the inability of other teenagers to remove a lifebuoy from its stand.
Dr Nolan said she would write to Waterways Ireland to alert them of her recommendation that lifebuoys should be both available and accessible.
The coroner acknowledged that there is a problem with vandalism of the lifesaving equipment but stressed that there was a need to “get the balance right” in terms of making them accessible.
She said it was important for anyone considering getting into water to help another to be able to access lifebuoys for their own personal safety.
Dr Nolan also called for swimming lessons to be made a formal part of the curriculum at secondary school level.
The coroner, who revealed she had lifeguard qualifications herself, noted that transition year students do some lifeguard training in association with Water Safety Ireland.
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She observed that it would be good for all post primary students to have the knowledge of what to do if they found themselves in similar situations.
The inquest heard evidence from six teenagers who were with the deceased at the time of the fatal incident.
They told the coroner how two groups of friends from different schools had met up and decided to go swimming in the Grand Canal near the Cliff at Lyons country retreat.
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The inquest heard that Max – a 3rd Year student at Coláiste Chilliain in Clondalkin, Dublin – had gone to the canal on his e-scooter with a speaker to play music.
The teenagers described how some of them were jumping in and out of the canal but Max had originally indicated he was not going to go in the water.
Another friend said he and Max had jumped into the water together after others had been diving into the canal for about 30 minutes.
He raised the alarm just after 5pm after realising that his friend was not getting out of the water.
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One witness said he would have advised the deceased not to go in the water if he had realised he could not swim.
The teenager recalled seeing Max was drowning when he saw him trying to swim to the surface with air bubbles coming out of his mouth. He said he jumped back into the water and both were reaching out to try and grab hold of each other.
The witness said he tried to hold onto a chain to go deeper but “we were out of reach of each other.”
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He added: “Everyone loved Max. He was a good friend and a friendly guy.”
He described the deceased as “very funny” and “gentle.”
“We’ll all miss Max. He’ll never be forgotten,” he concluded.
Another youth who dived into the canal to try and rescue Max said his friend looked like he was panicking in the water.
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The witness said he and another swimmer had grabbed the deceased by the arms but were unable to pull him up.
“He was struggling and panicking,” the teenager recalled.
He said others were screaming at them to get out of the water which was estimated to be 15-20 foot deep where the group were swimming.
One girl fought back tears as she described how they struggled to remove the lifebuoy off its stand.
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Another boy described trying to kick at the lifebuoy’s stand to try and break it as its rope was “wrapped around a pole” and could not be removed.
A woman living near the lock, Maeve Boylan, described how she was originally wary of the group of teenagers as she had experience of some groups being “trouble” but had observed how they seemed “calm and friendly.”
Ms Boylan said she realised that there was a bit of panic among them at one stage and realised a short time later what had happened when she heard someone shout out that someone was missing.
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She told the inquest that she had spent 20 minutes on a 999 call to emergency services, while she had also got a key to open the lock to drain the water from the area where the group were swimming.
Ms Boylan said she was frustrated at not being able to do anything further to help and at realising that they were not going to be able to save the victim.
An aunt of the deceased, Joanne Moore, gave evidence of formally identifying her nephew’s body to gardaí.
Dr Nolan said the results of a postmortem showed that Max had died from drowning.
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She said toxicology reports had corroborated the evidence of the witnesses that the deceased had not consumed any alcohol or drugs.
Returning a verdict of accidental death, Dr Nolan also recommended that counselling should be provided to Max’s friends, if they had not already received it.
The coroner said she would be writing to the different schools attended by the witnesses about her belief that counselling would be beneficial for them.
“It’s an experience that most people don’t experience thankfully,” she observed.
