Accidental death ruled in Dalgan River crash

A verdict of accidental death was recorded in the death of a Cloonfad man whose car drove off the road and into a river on the Mayo-Roscommon border.
Robert Hunt (35) of Pollanalty, Cloonfad, Co Roscommon, was found dead in his vehicle on the morning of March 24, 2016.
The inquest into his death found that his Peugeot car left the road and handed on its roof in the Dalgan River, on the R327 Claremorris to Cloonfad road.
The postmortem found that Mr Hunt had not died from drowning but from asphyxia, due to compression of his chest by his seat belt.
David Milestone told the inquest, which was held in Castlebar, that he was travelling from Brickens to Glenamaddy at 8.30am when he noticed a sign had been hit and vehicle tracks on the grass verge.
He decided to stop and saw a black car on its roof in the middle of the river. He went down to the river, but was not sure if anyone was in it and called the emergency services.
The fire service removed Mr Hunt from the car and the scene was examined. The body was identified by the deceased man’s sister, Maura.
Mr Hunt’s other sister, Nicola, told the inquest that he left the house that morning just after 7am.
An examination of the scene found no evidence of speeding, and the car was determined to have been in a roadworthy condition. There was nothing to indicate why it had veered off the road.
Dr Tomas Nemeth explained that there was no fluid in Mr Hunt’s lungs to indicate drowning. He said the seat belt caused Mr Hunt to be suspended upside down, which resulted in him losing consciousness and causing asphyxia. No alcohol was found in his system.
The inquest jury recorded a verdict of accidental death and Mr John O’Dwyer expressed sympathy to the Hunt family.