The teacher died after suffering multiple traumatic injuries having been struck by a vehicle after falling from the moving coach in Donegal
An inquest into the death of teacher Amanda Catherina Kinsella, who fell from a moving coach’s emergency exit, revealed there was an “intermittent fault” with the door’s locking mechanism that could not have been detected by inspection or by the driver.
Ms Kinsella, 27, suffered fatal multiple traumatic injuries after being struck by a vehicle following her fall from the moving coach outside Donegal Town at around 3.45pm on August 13, 2021.
Hailing from Bennekerry in Co Carlow, Ms Kinsella was enjoying a summer break from her job in the Middle East and was part of a party celebrating the second day of a wedding.
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She was on a private coach with other wedding guests heading to Strabane to continue the wedding celebrations.
Ms Kinsella, known in GAA circles and as a football player for Irish clubs in Bahrain where she lived, was making her way to the back of the coach when she lost her footing as the vehicle drove round a bend, reports the Irish Mirror.
Members of the wedding party including the bride, testified that they witnessed Amanda “lose her balance, fall backwards down the steps into the footwell of the emergency door.”
“The emergency door opened and several were trying to help pull her back but she fell out,” one witness recounted, noting “her back hit the door.”
Another witness said “Amanda was trying to grab anything she could, there was panic on her face and she slipped out the door.”
Several wedding guests and the bus driver, dashed from the bus to assist Amanda and offer comfort as she lay on the road.
One guest remarked: “Amanda was in the wrong place at the wrong time. From my perspective it was a freak accident.”
“It was a split second moment and the driver of the van wouldn’t have been able to react,” said another witness said.
The inquest was informed that the coach driver had carried out all standard daily checks, which included inspecting the two emergency doors, and found “no faults or alarms on the dash and no defects,” before operating the coach.
The driver of the van said in his deposition that he was driving in the opposite direction of the coach and “a girl had fallen from the bus and hit the front of my van in a matter of seconds.”
He said he immediately stopped, called an ambulance and saw other people running towards Amanda.
Garda Damien Mulkearns, Public Service Vehicle Inspector, gave evidence of inspecting the door Amanda fell through and when he pushed his shoulder against it, the door remained closed.
He manually opened the door, which functioned correctly, but noted that when he pushed against the door a second time, it opened.
“There appeared to be an intermittent fault with the lock but the bus driver would not have been aware,” Gda Mulkearns said.
“The door functioned normally but 10-20 per cent of the time it didn’t,” he observed during his testing.
He revealed that to manually open the door, there is an N-shaped bracket requiring three fingers to be placed into it to release the mechanism.
On inspecting the locking mechanism that was in a sealed component, he said there was internal wear and tear and that it is a non-serviceable part.
“The wear and tear couldn’t be detected by inspection or by the driver,” he said. “This is something you would rarely see.
“My professional opinion is that Amanda fell against the door and it opened and that she had no interaction with the handle.”
Alan Deering, Forensic Engineer instructed by the Health and Safety Authority said he also inspected the lock mechanism and “a false lock” occurred one to two times out of 10, when the hooks on the lock didn’t fully engage.
He also found wear and tear on the internal components to be “not alarmingly significant,” and “it could not have been seen by the driver or on inspection.”
Returning a verdict of accidental death at Dublin District Coroner’s Court on Thursday, the jury made a recommendation that the service life around locking mechanisms be reviewed and mandatory replacement after a specified number of years.
After the jury returned its verdict, Coroner Dr Crona Gallagher said she will bring the recommendation to the relevant authorities
Dr Gallagher offered her sympathies to Ms Kinsella’s family who were in attendance.
“It is extremely tragic. It was an appalling tragedy and I am very sorry for your loss.”
Sergeant Stephen Lynch of Donegal Town Garda Station also extended his condolences to Ms Kinsella’s family.
“On behalf of An Garda Siochana, I would like to convey our sympathies on your sad loss . It’s a tragic loss and no words can explain.”
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