A young British man died after being stung by sea urchins during what he called "the best day of my life", an inquest has heard. Christian Bogle, 26, was snorkelling at a coral reef in Fiji when he was stung before suffering a seizure which caused him to drown.

The super yacht deckhand, from Newquay in Cornwall, tragically died at a beach in the city of Nadi last June. An inquest at Cornwall Coroner's Court heard how he told one crew mate he was having "the best day of my life".

However, she then turned around and could no longer see his snorkel. Christian's body was then found three metres below the water surface against the coral reef on the following day.

Consultant pathologist Dr Tim Bracey, who carried out the postmortem, said spines from sea urchins were found in his skin from a sting he suffered while alive. However, they were not toxic enough to have caused his death. Dr Bracey said Christian instead died from drowning after a seizure. It may have led him to get into difficulty in the water, although it was calm and shallow.

Christian's mother Diane described him as a "beautiful boy", who was "hardworking, fit, active and well-groomed". She said it had always been a dream of his to work on super yachts like the one in Fiji.

The inquest also heard that he went to see his GP in 2015 and 2017 after suffering "funny turns". The episodes, which would take place about once a week, would last for ten to 15 seconds and cause him to salivate and make his eyes water.

After working on several yachts in France, Christian was offered a deckhand job in Fiji in late May 2024. He was in frequent contact with his mother telling her he was living "his best life" but tragically died less than a week later.

Assistant coroner for Cornwall Emma Hillson said the toxicity of the sea urchin stings were not enough to have caused his death.  She said that on the balance of probabilities, he drowned due to a seizure - and ruled his death was accidental.

Miss Hillson said it was a very tragic set of circumstances, especially when Mr Bogle was thriving in his new career abroad.