The surviving fisherman from a trawler that sank off the Queensland coast could hear his mates trapped inside the upturned vessel.

March 26, 2019

The sole survivor of a fishing boat tragedy off the Queensland coast heard his crewmates screaming from inside the upturned vessel as he clung to the hull, an inquest has heard.

Ruben McDornan was the only man to survive when the FV Dianne capsized off the coast of the central Queensland town of 1770 on October 16, 2017.

At an inquest into the deaths of his six crew in Gladstone Coroners Court, counsel assisting the coroner John Aberdeen said Mr McDornan was below deck when the trawler began rolling about 7.30pm.

“(His) immediate thought was the vessel may have been hit by a rogue wave,” he told the court on Tuesday.

He rushed to the wheelhouse where skipper Ben Leahy was at the helm and thought the sea cucumber trawler would eventually roll back to starboard, Mr Aberdeen said.

But the court heard the boat never righted itself.

By the time Mr McDornan got there, water had started filling the vessel which was almost upside down.

“The capsize was complete in a matter of seconds,” Mr Aberdeen said.

Mr McDornan plunged below the water and forced his way out of the cabin.

After surfacing he clung to the hull in darkness.

He could hear his crewmates trapped inside screaming as they tried unsuccessfully to escape.

Police divers later found Mr Leahy, 45, and Adam Hoffman, 30, trapped inside the sunken hull.

The bodies of Eli Tonks, 39, Adam Bidner, 33, Zach Feeney, 28, and Chris Sammut, 34, have never been found.

Mr McDornan spent the night treading water in the two-to-three metre swell before being saved the following morning when a passing yacht heard his yells for help.

Coroner David O’Connell is investigating whether the FV Dianne was structurally sound and whether there was adequate safety equipment on board.

The 10-day marine, air and land search and rescue effort will also be examined.

It follows an inquest last week into the sinking of the prawn trawler FV Cassandra, which rolled and sank off the northern tip of Fraser Island in April 2016.

The bodies of skipper Matt Roberts, 61, and crewman David Chivers, 36, have never been found.