RAF man died after being caught in ‘fearsome current’
AN RAF sergeant drowned after being pulled out to sea by “fearsome” waves at a Welsh beach, an inquest has heard.
Sgt Stephen Anthony Hulsmeier, 47, was on holiday with family and friends in the area when he and his friend’s 12-year-old daughter got caught in a riptide on August 6, 2021.
The father-of-one had been enjoying a day at Porth Neigwl beach – known to some as “Hell’s Mouth” – near Pwllheli in Gwynedd, with his wife, Becky, their teenage son, and two other families when tragedy struck.
An inquest held in Caernarfon yesterday heard Sgt Hulsmeier and the 12-year-old daughter of one of his friends had been pulled out to sea by a strong current when the duo began to struggle in the choppy waters. The court heard from Christopher Brown, who raised the alarm after spotting the pair metres away from the shore.
Mr Brown, who described himself as Sgt Hulsmeier’s “lifelong best friend” said he had been supervising the children in the water when he realised the two had disappeared from the shallow waters they had been paddling in previously.
Mr Brown said the pair looked “obviously terrified” as he swam towards them.
He said they were approximately 40 metres out to sea, and “visibly struggling in the deep water,” but eventually Mr Brown managed to reach the girl and take her to safety.
He then returned to the sea, where Sgt Hulsmeier was struggling to stay afloat due to the “fearsome” current.
He said: “There was very little mercy from the sea, I could see he was going under the water.
“He was crying out and screaming for help. I managed to get him to hold on to my ankle for about 20 seconds but we were both driven underneath some relentless waves and when I surfaced he was again some meters away.”
Completely exhausted, Mr Brown realised he couldn’t reach his friend, and turned to the shore for help.
He said: “I continued to shout at Steve to tell him to keep fighting and stay with me, I could hear him screaming behind me.”
The inquest heard a team including the coastguard, police and paramedics as well as members of the public pulled him from the sea and began CPR. They tried for two hours to revive the father-of-one, but he was pronounced dead at 4.03pm. His wife Becky, has since paid tribute to her husband, a popular aircraft engineer who had served in the RAF for 23 years.
Following their tragic loss, Sgt Hulsmeier’s family have questioned the safety measures at the Porth Neigwl beach, which is managed by
Gwynedd council.
In a statement read at the inquest, wife Becky said: “This is a beach we have been to a number of times in previous years and lifeguards have never been in attendance.”
She continued: “It is my belief that had there been lifeguards or clearer signs, this may have prevented my husband’s death.”
The inquest heard from Barry Davies, maritime services manager for Gwynedd council about safety on the region’s beaches, who said “rigorous periodic risk assessments” are carried out to ensure public safety.
Mr Davies said that while between 35 and 40 wardens are employed by the council in peak seasons, they are not lifeguards and are allocated to beaches depending on the level of activity.
On the day of the incident, a warden had not been allocated to Hell’s Mouth beach, as it is considered a naturally occurring beach and is not one of the county’s blue flag tourist beaches.
He told the court Sgt Hulsmeier’s death was the first of its kind on Hell’s Mouth beach since he took up the position in 1996.
A postmortem conducted by Dr Muhammad Aslam at Glan Clwyd Hospital gave a cause of death of drowning.
Assistant Coroner for North West Wales, Sarah Riley, recorded an inquest conclusion of misadventure.
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