Tragic fisherman ‘was warned of sea dangers’
Locals pay tribute to mechanic and friends who drowned on trip
ONE of three Latvians to die in the Kerry boating tragedy had been warned of the dangers of fishing in the area, locals said last night.
Anatolijs Teivens, 57, a mechanic who was living in Killarney, was named last night as one of the three men who perished in Sunday’s tragedy.
The incident occurred after their small fibreglass speed boat capsized off Coolana Harbour, near Caherciveen in Co Kerry.
His friends who also perished were Jurijs Burcves, 30, who also lived in Killarney, and Valerijs Klimentjevs, 38, who lived in Tralee.
They had all left the harbour at around 7.30am on Sunday morning and had been due to return at around 2pm.
Instead, Mr Teivens’s body was spotted about 5.45pm by a local resident walking past the pier. A short time later, the remains of his friends were found.
They were all later transferred to Kerry University Hospital where post-mortems were carried out yesterday.
The Latvian Embassy is liaising with relatives and other family members of the deceased men.
Throughout the day, debris from the boat had been brought ashore and by around 5pm, the boat itself was recovered in pieces.
Although Mr Teivens had fished in the area almost twice a month for the past nine months, the Irish Daily Mail has also learned he had previously been warned about the dangers of fishing locally.
A local resident, who knew him but did not want to be named, said last night: ‘He was a really nice guy. His English wasn’t great but we got on.
‘I used to see him most times he came down and I saw him the morning he left before that fateful trip.
‘He was in great form and he introduced me to the two men with him. They had very good English. They were all looking forward to a great day fishing. I think I must have been the last person to shake Anatolijs’ hand when I met him around 7am.’
The resident added that Mr Teivens lived with his partner.
‘When we spoke he mentioned he had been due to see his son,’ he said. ‘He was excited and was really looking forward to seeing him. He told me he was due to see him this weekend and he said he was going to take him fishing in the harbour. I got the impression he was coming from abroad.
But the resident also said they were one of a number of people who had warned Mr Teivens about the dangers of fishing in the area. They added: ‘I had warned him about the dangers of going out there but I think he felt he knew what he was doing.
‘Other people had warned him as well. The waters and weather can change very suddenly.
The local man was asked to identify Mr Teivens’s remains after his body was brought ashore. He said: ‘Another resident found him and because I knew Anatolijs, or Anthony as we used to call him, I was asked to identify him.
‘I did but I don’t want to talk about it. I didn’t sleep that night. It was very upsetting.’
According to locals, Mr Teivens used to pay for the storage of his boat with fish he caught.
The vessel was stored on land near the pier, and just a few yards from where he had parked his Dublin-registered Peugeot.
John Draper, Valentia Coastguard’s Divisional Controller, told Radio Kerry the men’s boat may not have been suitable for the conditions. ‘It’s a terrible sad day,’ he said. ‘We don’t know when the incident happened and just have the long timeframe from the time they went out and when the alarm was raised.
‘They were wearing life preserves, which are a key thing for anyone going out to sea. But we do get fatalities even when people are wearing these as hypothermia can come into play.’
John Dowd, of Iveragh Coast Guard, said the men’s bodies had
‘I must have been the last to shake his hand’ ‘Waters and weather can change quickly’