Sole survivor of horror trawler capsize reveals the tragedy still haunts him

The sole survivor of a horrific trawler capsize which killed six of his best friends has revealed the tragedy continues to haunt him.

Ruben McDornan, 32, was one of seven men aboard trawler ‘FV Dianne’ when it capsized off the Queensland town of Seventeen Seventy in October.

Mr McDornan told 60 Minutes he thought he was going to die as he spent 12 hours staying afloat in the hope of being rescued.

‘Every day I’m back in that wheelhouse,’ he said. ‘I started to think i was going to die.’  

Ruben McDornan (with wife Sammy), 32, was one of seven men aboard trawler ‘FV Dianne’ when it capsized off the Queensland town of Seventeen Seventy in October

Mr McDornan told 60 Minutes he thought he was going to die as he spent 12 hours staying afloat in the hope of being rescued

Mr McDornan told 60 Minutes he thought he was going to die as he spent 12 hours staying afloat in the hope of being rescued

He managed to escape the sinking vessel’s wheelhouse by fitting through a tiny gap in a door before clambering to the hull of the boat.

Mr McDornan broke down in tears as he recounted his miraculous escape – saying he relives it everyday.

Mr McDornan described how he desperately called out for help, begging for his life to be saved.

‘I just gave the biggest roar of adrenaline. I screamed into the hull and I heard a voice scream right back.’  

Mr McDornan said the thought of coming home to his wife Sammy drove him to desperately attempt to survive

Mr McDornan said the thought of coming home to his wife Sammy drove him to desperately attempt to survive

He could hear two of his friends inside the upturned boat while he sat on the hull.

Hours later, the boat sank, and Mr McDornan was forced to swim towards the town of 1770 which he could see in the distance. 

Commercial fisherman Mal Priday and his wife Linda found Mr McDornan as he entered his eighth hour treading water in turbulent seas.

The bodies of two of Mr McDornan’s friends – Adam Hoffman, 30, and Ben Leahy, 45 – were later found by police divers.

Eli Tonks, 39, Adam Bidner, 33, Zach Feeney, 28, and Chris Sammut, 34, have never been found and are presumed dead.  

The ‘FV Dianne’ sank in on October 16, with seven people on board.

The vessel was on a trip from Cairns to Bundaberg collecting sea cucumbers.  

It came into strife about 7.30pm, when a wave flipped the vessel.

Mr McDornan said the thought of coming home to his wife Sammy drove him to desperately attempt to survive. 

The 'FV Dianne' sank in on October 16, with seven people on board. The vessel was on a trip from Cairns to Bundaberg collecting sea cucumbers

The ‘FV Dianne’ sank in on October 16, with seven people on board. The vessel was on a trip from Cairns to Bundaberg collecting sea cucumbers



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