The UK MAIB has published report containing details from the investigation into the fatal man overboard from the fishing vessel Aquarius on 17 August 2015.
The incident:
In the early hours of the morning on 17 August 2015, a fisherman on board the 20.8m twin rig trawler Aquarius was struck and thrown overboard violently by a steel wire trawl warp when a rope stopper parted. The vessel had just cleared the port of Aberdeen, Scotland, and its crew were attempting to re-mark the trawl warps when the accident happened.
The skipper reacted quickly to stop the vessel, and the crew threw lifebuoys to the casualty. However, the recovery attempt was unsuccessful and the casualty sank out of view approximately 10 minutes later. Despite a search involving numerous vessels and a helicopter, the casualty’s body was not recovered. In order to mark the steel wire warp, the crew had streamed it over the stern. The stopper was used to take the strain of the trailing warp so that the crew could lower its inboard section on to the deck.
Investigation Findings
• The stopper parted under tension because a man-made fibre rope had been used instead of a chain, and because the way it had been applied deviated from wellestablished good practice.
• The casualty was thrown overboard because he had positioned himself within the bight of the slackened trawl warp.
• The crew were unable to recover the casualty back on board because neither they, nor their vessel had been adequately prepared to deal with such emergency situations.
• The casualty’s body was not recovered because he was not wearing a lifejacket or other type of personal flotation device while working on the open deck.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency had surveyed and inspected Aquarius on numerous occasions during the previous 9 years. It had identified Aquarius as a poorly run vessel and issued it with 137 deficiencies; many of these related to safety management and were of a repetitive nature.
The underlying factors that contributed to this accident included: a total lack of proactive safety management; a poor level of onboard safety culture; and the crew suffering from tiredness and fatigue.
Recommendations
Recommendations have been made to the owners of Aquarius, the vessel’s manning agency and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. These are aimed at improving the levels of safety management and emergency preparedness on board Aquarius; the working conditions and hours of rest for non-UK nationals on board UK flagged fishing vessels; and the capability of the electronic systems used by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to manage and monitor deficiencies and poor performing fishing vessels
Further details may be found by reading the report below
Source & Image credit: UK MAIB
