A man was crushed under a two-tonne concrete slab while he was looking for scrap, an inquest at Dublin City Coroner's Court heard yesterday.
Mr Seamus Mongan (21), a married man with two children, one born since his death, of Forest Road, Swords, had gone into the Techrete Ltd yard at Dublin Road, Howth, on May 7th, 1999, to search for scrap copper.
Mr John Maughan said they were driving in the Howth area and hoped to find some scrap. The gate to the yard was open and they went in.
As he looked around he heard a noise and found his friend trapped under the concrete slab. He did everything he could to rescue him and summoned help.
Mr Henry Clifford said the concrete slaps were fixed with cargo lashings on trailers for transportation. These had been partly removed from the load on the trailer where the victim was found.
Gardai found several more of these cargo straps piled up around the yard, having been removed from loads.
Mr Mongan was pronounced dead at Beaumont Hospital and a post-mortem examination showed he died of severe haemorrhage due to trauma.
The coroner, Dr Brian Farrell, recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.