10 victims of Carrickmines fire died from carbon monoxide poisoning
The Carrickmines fire inquest has heard all 10 victims were alive when the blaze started and died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Five adults and five children, including a six-month-old baby girl, lost their lives when the fire broke out in the early hours of October 10, 2015.
Deputy State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said a combination of physical evidence, DNA profiling and dental records was used to identify nine of the 10 victims, such was the extent of the damage caused by the fire.
The 10th victim, six-month-old baby Mary Connors, was plucked from her father’s burning caravan and placed in another unit, which also caught fire.
A firefighter rescued her from the second mobile home but sadly she was pronounced dead in hospital a short time later.
Dr Bolster said all of the victims had soot in their windpipes and there were traces in the lungs of some of them, which suggested they were alive when the fire started.
All of the adults had alcohol in their system and 27-year-old Thomas Connors had recently eaten chips.
Last week, the inquest heard a chip pan on his cooker was the likely cause of the fire.
He was the only one found to have ingested chips.
The cause of death for all 10 victims was carbon monoxide poisoning.
