The inquest into the death of a 14-year-old girl who died on a scouting trip in Co Wexford has heard she died due to a lack of oxygen to the brain as a result of near drowning.

Dublin Coroner's Court has heard there was no evidence of trauma that contributed to her death.

Aoife Winterlich, from Walkinstown Road, Crumlin, was visiting Hook Head lighthouse when she was swept off the rocks into the sea along with three others.

The teenager fell into the water again as rescuers attempted to bring her aboard an Irish Coastguard helicopter.

She fell from a height of around 14m.

The teenager was recovered again, and winched back on the helicopter.

She died at Crumlin Children's Hospital five days later.

Professor Maureen O'Sullivan carried out a post-mortem examination.

She told the coroner's court that Aoife died due to a lack of oxygen to the brain as a result of near drowning.

The pathologist said there was bruising to the teenager's body but in her opinion, there was no evidence of trauma that contributed to her death.

She said the fall into the water while being winched onto the helicopter was unlikely to have contributed to her demise.

She said the damage had been done during the initial immersion in the water.

John Lawlor, CEO of Scouting Ireland, has told the coroner's court that a visit to the lighthouse at Hook Head is considered a low-risk activity, and very typical of a trip that scouts go on.

He said no risk had ever been identified with trips to Hook Head.

He acknowledged that there was potential for children to go on the rocks near the lighthouse, but he said that was not part of the planned activity.

This afternoon a scout leader told the inquest she considered diving into the water to try to save the two teenagers who had been swept out to sea.

However, Leanne Bradley said: "A huge angry wave came on the rocks. That's how I knew I couldn't save them."

She said the Irish Coastguard helicopter arrived a short time later.

"The kids started screaming 'they dropped her' but I didn't see it."

Another teenager has described how he swam to Aoife after she had been swept out to sea by a wave.

Phillip Byrne told the coroner's court that he held onto the 14-year-old who was going in and out of consciousness.

He said he tried to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation in the water.

He said a winch man from the helicopter put a strap around Aoife that went around her arms and chest. The three were winched up and were a few metres from the helicopter when Aoife slipped out of her jacket and fell back in the water.

He said the winch man was fast going down and coming back up with Aoife, and the crew worked on her straight away.

A winch operator with the Irish Coastguard who helped in the rescue from the water off Hook Head said it is unusual to lift two casualties from the water at the same time.

Neville Murphy told the inquest into the death of Aoife Winterlich that in his 18 years with the Coastguard, he had never seen it before. He said it was unusual to have two people together in the water to be rescued.

He said search and rescue is very dynamic and crew never know what they will face on any mission.

Mr Murphy described how they were about to lift the male casualty into the aircraft when the female casualty slipped from the strop.

He said his colleague, Sean Jennings, the winch man, went back down very quickly after the male casualty was taken on board.

Mr Jennings told the coroner's court that when he first reached the casualties in the water, he secured the strops on them both and signalled for the winch operator to proceed with the lift.

He said Aoife Winterlich was not responsive; she was very pale, and she wasn't breathing.

He said he did not take his hand off the teenager during the lift. Mr Jennings said he was not aware of the mechanics as to how she fell out of the strop.

The winch man said they had not received training to do a double lift of casualties.

He said in search and rescue, there is a lot of grey area and decisions are left to the crew to make on the spot.

The inquest has been adjourned until October to hear further medical evidence.