Pathologist releases cause of death for all deceased in 2013 boating crash

A forensic pathologist testified Thursday about his findings from the post-mortems of three people killed in relation to a boat crash on Lake Wanapitei five years ago.

A joint coroner's inquest is underway in Sudbury looking into the circumstances surrounding two fatal events — a 2013 boating tragedy in Sudbury and the death of a woman in Casselman in 2014.

In June 2013, a boat crashed into a small island on Lake Wanapitei in Greater Sudbury. Matthew Humeniuk, 33, and Michael Kritz, 34, both died at the scene. Stephanie Bertrand, 25, died a week later of her injuries.

The only survivor, Rob Dorzek, testified at the inquest, and expressed his frustration with the 911 system. He called the number five times that night, but his calls kept getting dropped.

Dorzek says he was told by an emergency call taker to light a signal fire so crews could find them. That fire spread quickly to the boat where Humeniuk and Kritz were.

Forensic Pathologist Dr. David Chiasson testified on Thursday about his observations following the autopsies on Humeniuk, Kritz and Bertrand. 

Chiasson told the inquest both Humeniuk and Bertrand died of head injuries. He says the autopsy on Kritz showed the cause of death was the result of the fire.

Fire crews told to wait

Earlier in the day, Sudbury Fire Platoon Chief Terry Larocque testified. 

Larocque was at a house fire that night,  trying also to co-ordinate rescue efforts in Skead. 

Not aware of the fire, he told the volunteer firefighters in Skead to wait for EMS, because he thought they were responding to a medical call. There was no mention of a fire.

But at 1:15am he radioed to go ahead just as  two ambulances arrived. The boat took on the paramedics and headed out.

Emergency responders didn't arrive at the boat crash until 1:38 a.m. By then the fire had spread to the boat.

'We failed the victims'

Larocque also spoke about how emergency crews respond to calls and how communication works between fire, police and ambulance crews.

He told the inquiry it was difficult to make decisions that night as he and the fire crew in Skead didn't have access to all the information they needed.

Larocque also said he's been told by lawyers that given the information he had that night, fire crews did a good job.

"It doesn't feel that way," he said at the inquest.

"We failed the victims that evening."

Larocque then apologized to the families of the victims and Dorzek.

Earlier in the day, two volunteer firefighters testified about their involvement with the call.

Ryan Barnes, a paramedic platoon supervisor in Sudbury was the final witness on day four of the proceeding.

He testified that one ambulance dispatched to the boating accident came from downtown Sudbury, a drive of 30 to 35 minutes with lights and sirens activated. The other ambulance came from Val Therese, a 20 minute drive to Skead.

The inquest heard that the communication centre for ambulances gave the medics a general area of where the accident might be. They were not told to go to the marina in Skead.

During the inquest Barnes clarified that the paramedics weren't lost, but rather were looking for the crash.

The counsel to the coroner, Prabhu​ Rajan says the inquest is not about assigning blame, rather addressing communication concerns and preventing similar tragedies.