A teenager's attempt to retrieve a bucket that had drifted in water during a fishing trip with his father sparked off a chain of events that resulted in their deaths in a Co Donegal lake.
53-year-old Jonathon Christian and his son Jacob Christian, 17, drowned at Lough Keel near Kilmacrennan on 18 June 2020.
The pair had been enjoying a day out along with another son, Benjamin, 15, when both got into difficulty and lost their lives in the water.
The father and two sons had travelled to Ireland from the Isle of Man where they lived as they also owned a property in the area.
Details leading up to the tragedy had been given at a previous inquest.
However, the hearing was adjourned after Jonathan's wife Eileen expressed concerns over aspects of his mental health and capacity to look after his sons.
The initial inquest at Letterkenny Courthouse heard a deposition from Benjamin Christen.
He explained how their bait box had fallen into the water and Jacob tried to swim after it but a ripple pushed the bucket further away.
Jonathon had initially called to his son to come back, Benjamin said, adding: "Jacob tried, but he couldn't swim back in".
After initially trying to throw a life ring to Jacob, Benjamin and Jonathon both jumped into the water to try and bring him to safety.
"I started to go down and dad helped me back onto the rocks. I looked back out and both were gone," Benjamin added.
Declan Foley, who looks after the pump house at Lough Keel, told the inquest how he saw Benjamin sitting on the rocks, with his head down, wearing no top, shoes or socks.
Mr Foley said the boy was crying and asked him for help, saying: "I couldn't save them. I couldn't save them. They went under".
Detective Garda John Madigan, a scenes of crime investigator, said the water just beyond the rocks was around 6ft (1.8m) deep.
Beyond this point, the inquest heard, the depth would be much greater.
Roisin McBride, the officer in charge at Mulroy Coast Guard, said she received a call at 2.56pm from the Marine Rescue Coordination Centre at Malin Head requesting assistance after two people were reported to have entered the water.
She arrived at 3.16pm and a boat was launched at 3.26pm.
Four teams of two combed the shoreline to assist in the search, while the Sligo-based Rescue 118 helicopter arrived soon after.
At 3.59pm, the body of Jonathon Christian was brought ashore, while the body of Jacob Christian was located at 6.38pm.
Pathologist Dr Gerry O'Dowd performed post-mortem examinations at Letterkenny University Hospital and concluded their deaths were due to drowning.
Toxicology tests showed both father and son tested negative for the presence of alcohol and drugs.
Reopening the inquest, Donegal Coroner Dr Denis McCauley told how Jonathon Christen had been filming the trip on his phone and unknowingly captured some of the final moments before he placed the phone on rocks.
The phone showed some harrowing footage but also provided the inquest with vital evidence of what had actually happened.
He described it as "unpleasant to watch but helpful" as it ultimately showed what had transpired at the lough and that both father and son died as a result of an accident.
Addressing Mrs Christen's concerns over her husband's mental health, Dr McCauley went through a number of issues.
The inquest was told that Jonathon's family was concerned over his mental state and he was admitted involuntary under Section 2 of the Mental Health Act on 8 May 2020 and was under inpatient care until 2 June 2020.
After being released from this care he was prescribed olanzapine, but none of the medication showed up in toxicology tests that were carried out on his body.
Mrs Christen was concerned that there may have been restrictions imposed regarding travel and interacting with his children.
However, the inquest heard that no formal restrictions were in place after his release from hospital.
Garda Ciaran Langan told the inquest that he carried out a welfare check on 10 June 2020 when he called to the family's Donegal property.
Gardaí spoke to all individuals in the house over a period of around 15 minutes and found "no issues".
Coroner Dr McCauley said the mental state of Jonathon Christian on 18 June 2020 is unknown.
He said this was only of importance if a decision made on the day was "out of character or something that a normal person wouldn’t do".
"The decision to go fishing on the lake with his two sons was normal.
"A father and two sons went to go fishing and a small incident escalated into a terrible tragedy.
"The presence of the video is incredibly sad and upsetting, but it does give a view of what happened," Dr McCauley added.
He said the absence of a video would give rise to a concern about the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Dr McCauley said he was comfortable in finding the deaths were accidental in both cases.
