disappearance of her two sons and another young man during a 1993 fishing trip.

Mrs. Verona Outerbridge rose during an inquest into the deaths of the three men and said: "I want an answer as to why my children were left out there.

"Why didn't (Harbour Radio) send somebody out there to look for them?'' Coroner Mr. Edward King ruled that Randolph Outerbridge, 30, and his brother Jeffrey Calvin, 25, both of Warwick, and 27-year-old Geaige Minks, of Pembroke, "accidentally met their deaths in the sea off the islands of Bermuda, on or soon after the 26th of January, 1993.'' That was the day they were last seen, when they set out fishing in high seas off the west end in the 20-foot Cutty Cabin Simply Red .

During the second day of the inquest in Magistrates' Court yesterday, a Police tape was played of one half of a VHF radio exchange between Harbour Radio and the Simply Red .

Court was told that the Police tape only picked up the Harbour Radio transmissions, not those from the small pleasure craft. And at the time of the boat's disappearance, Harbour Radio did not have equipment to tape its radio or telephone calls. That equipment was not installed until early this year.

On the tape, recorded shortly after 4.30 p.m. on January 26, Mr. Timothy Winkelmann of Harbour Radio initially tells Simply Red her transmissions are "barely readable,'' and later "unreadable''.

After determining there were three people aboard the boat, Mr. Winkelmann repeatedly asks: "Do you require assistance? Yes or no?''.

At one point, he says: "I understand that you do not require assistance. Is that correct?'' but then returns to: "Do you require assistance?'' A short time later, he asks boats off the West End to be on the look-out for Simply Red , with three people aboard "possibly in need of assistance.'' On the first day of the inquest, Mr. Winkelmann testified that he did not think Simply Red was in distress, but asked other boats to be on the look-out to comply with standard procedure.

But Mrs. Outerbridge told Mr. King yesterday the explanation did not make sense.

"How did he come to the conclusion that they did not need assistance if he didn't hear anything? "He has assumed that they didn't need assistance. He only assumed that. Why didn't he assume that they did need assistance?'' Court was told Harbour Radio contacted Police when Simply Red had not returned by 10.30 p.m., and a search for the vessel began.

But Mrs. Outerbridge said after the inquest that was too late. "They should have sent somebody out there to look for them when they lost communication,'' she said. "They waited too long. My children are missing due to their negligence.'' Harbour Radio officials declined to comment last night.

But there was no evidence at the inquest from anyone who heard a distress signal from the Simply Red , and P.c. Reginald Horseman of Marine Police said nobody reported seeing any flares from the craft.

Evidence included a statement from fisherman Mr. Allan Bean, who said he could hear radio transmissions from Simply Red clearly, but heard no distress call.

Another man testified he heard Simply Red call at about 4.30 p.m. and ask if there were any vessels on the banks.

An air-sea search started on the morning of January 27 was unsuccessful. A passing ship spotted the empty, overturned boat 50 miles east of the Island on February 11.

P.c. Horseman said it appeared the Simply Red ran out of fuel and the men were unable to anchor the boat in extremely deep water.

"There is no evidence to suggest that the occupants of Simply Red sent out a `mayday' signal,'' he said.

"It can only be assumed the vessel took on a large quantity of water during gale force conditions and eventually capsized.'' The officer's recommendations, which were not repeated by Mr. King, included: Requiring that boats venturing beyond the reef carry an EPIRB -- a device that sends out a distress signal giving a boat's location; Boaters file proper "float plans''; and A ban on the import of inferior marine flares.