Inquest into magnet 'fishing' drownings

THE inquest opened yesterday, Wednesday, into the deaths of the two men who drowned whilst magnet 'fishing'.

They had gone out to Coopers Bridge at the junction of the Huddersfield Broad Canal and the Calder & Hebble Navigation to trawl magnets in the water to 'fish' for objects such as windlasses and the like, leaving their car nearby, Alan Tilbury reports.

Fallen into lock

But the father and son Martin and Jack Andrews had somehow fallen into the water where their bodies were discovered drowned at the bottom of a lock after a search by a police diving team on Saturday 16th June.

The inquest was held at Bradford Coroners' Court, where Assistant Coroner Peter Merchant heard that a member of the public alerted police after finding their belongings on the bank.

A pathologist stated that both father and son had died from drowning, with the inquest adjourned to a future date.