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 that claimed the lives of six men off the Queensland coast heard his mates’ screams as he clung to the upturned vessel’s hull in darkness.

Ruben McDornan was the only man to make it ashore alive after the FV Dianne capsized in darkness off the town of 1770 on October 16, 2017.

At an inquest into the deaths of his six crew mates in Gladstone, Mr McDornan told the court he could hear his friends trapped inside the upturned hull before it sank.

“It was quite broken and faint,” he said on Tuesday.

They were calling out from inside the accommodation cabin where six of the crew were lying in their bunks when the vessel rolled about 7.30pm.

Mr McDornan said he heard Adam Hoffman and another voice he thought was Chris Sammut’s.

“I responded mainly: ‘Can you get to the window, can you get to the door, can you get to the EPIRB’?” he said.

Earlier, counsel assisting the coroner John Aberdeen told the court the capsize was complete in a matter of seconds.

After the boat rolled, Mr McDornan forced his way out of the upturned and flooded wheelhouse through a door he had pushed open against the water.

On the surface he clung to the upturned sea cucumber trawler’s hull in darkness, Mr Aberdeen said.

“The entire period the crew were inside the vessel upside down with no lights,” he said.

The men were desperately trying to open a window in the wheelhouse and force a open a door but it wouldn’t budge, the court heard.

About 10.30pm it went quiet inside the Dianne before it sank about 11pm, Mr McDornan said.

As the vessel slipped below the surface stern first, Mr McDornan caught sight of the wheelhouse.

“I saw a torch floating, it was still on,” he said.

Police divers later found Adam Hoffman, 30, and skipper Ben Leahy, 45, 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 after the Dianne sank.

He was 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.

Experts will give evidence about whether future deaths could be prevented by making it compulsory for fishermen to wear life jackets while working.

The inquest will also explore whether personal location beacons and “grab bags” containing diving masks and portable air tanks for an emergency would have made a difference when the Dianne capsized.