Cyprus’ Marine Accident Investigation Committee (MAIC) announced that the investigation of the man overboard fatality from the container ship ‘Elb Trader’ in the Port of Dublin, South Ireland, in January 2018 is still ongoing. France, Cyprus, Italy and Tunisia are jointly involved in the investigation.
The incident
On 10 January 2018 at 05:30, the ‘ELB Trader’ departed from the port of Rotterdam, Netherlands bound for Dublin, where it berthed at Dublin Ferry Terminals on 11 January 2018 at 23:54. The weather was mild, slight winds, no fog, good visibility.
On the 12 January at 02:30, the vessel was visited by the Master and the Chief Engineer of the M/V ‘Samskip Express’.
At 05:42, when they were leaving the vessel, despite the vessel’s watchman suggestion to use the gangway, both men jumped over the bulwark.
The Chief Engineer fell into the water, within the gap between the vessel’s starboard side hull and the quay.
At 05:43, in the area where the Chief Engineer fell, crew members threw two Life-Rings into the water and ringed a “Monkey Ladder” and LifeLines on the vessel’s starboard bulwark.
At 05:45, the General Alarm was sounded and a rescue operation commenced. The emergency telephone number “112” was called for immediate assistance, while cargo operations were suspended.
At 05:46, vessel’s Rescue Team on Stand-By. At 05:49 Hours LT, the VTS Dublin was informed on VHF Channel 12 and was requested immediate assistance.
At 06:00 Hours LT, Port / Coast Guard Rescue Team arrived on scene. At 06:20, the Rescue Operation was completed and the Chief Engineer was transferred to Hospital ashore.
Later, the Police informed that the Chief Engineer passed away. It was later confirmed by the Irish Coroner that the cause of death was by drowning.
Conclusions
Direct cause
-Inadequate Real‐Time Risk Assessment: The Master and C/E of the ‘Samskip Express’ failed to adequately evaluate the risk associated with the jump over the bulwark and this faulty evaluation led to inappropriate decision‐making and subsequent fall of the C/E in the gap between the ship and the quay.
Root cause
Both ships leadership safety attitudes were the root cause of the accident.
Contributing causes:
- The environmental conditions (tide) in conjunction with cargo operations
- A Work‐Around Violation by hoisting up 3-4m and under-controlling the gangway
- Inadequate supervision
- A routine violation, not using the appropriate equipment for ship access by the visitors
- Wrong choice of action through false sense of security
- Lack of assertiveness by the Gangway Watchman.
Due to the post mortem exam report was not available at the time of writing of the report, it could not be established, whether alcohol intoxication, could have been considered as a contributing factor to the accident.
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