Pair was killed in minutes
‘Nothing could save them’
NOTHING could have saved the lives of two men who drowned after entering murky floodwaters as they ran from police, a coroner has found.
An inquest into the deaths of the two men has concluded they drowned “within minutes” of entering floodwaters during the 2019 Townsville floods as they tried to avoid arrest.
Their bodies were sucked into the culvert and pulled through the system that drained on the opposite side of the road near the Aitkenvale Library.
Troy Mathieson, 23, and Hughie Morton, 21, died in the early hours of February 4, 2019, and police divers found their bodies the next day.
An autopsy found both men had drugs and alcohol in their systems when they died.
The pair’s deaths devastated their families who remember them as funny, energetic and full of love.
At the time a flooding disaster had been declared and thousands of homes across the city were inundated with water.
The pair’s deaths prompted a compulsory coronial inquest as they died during a police operation while attempting to avoid arrest.
The inquest was told the pair were attempting to break into a Dan Murphy’s liquor store alongside another man when police interrupted them about 3.30am.
The third man hid from police but Mathieson and
Morton ran from the scene. An officer saw them both run into a flooded storm drain.
A stormwater engineering expert told the inquest the conditions at the time the pair entered the drain were the “worst possible” and that water levels made for the most dangerous conditions.
The decision to classify the pair wanted and not missing was critical to the inquest, which asked if the outcome would have changed if police began searching for them sooner.
Coroner Terry Ryan concluded that even if the pair were declared missing this would not have prevented their deaths.
“Troy and Hughie would likely have been deceased by the time they exited the culvert … or soon afterwards,” Mr
Ryan said in his findings. “Even if search and rescue personnel had been able to enter the water within 30-40 minutes of the men going missing, it is likely Troy and Hughie would have already passed away. Regardless of whether (they) were categorised as missing or wanted persons the outcome would not have changed.”
Mr Ryan also concluded it was not possible to know if the outcome would have changed if grates were installed to cover the culvert and said warning signs or additional fencing would not have made a difference.
Mr Ryan made no recommendations but noted the Queensland Police Service was reviewing, among other things, the possible implementation of floodwater training.