National Transportation Safety Board Marine Accident Brief
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued Marine Accident Brief regarding theSinking of Oceanographic Research Vessel Seaprobe.
About 0315 local time on January 18, 2013, the oceanographic research vessel Seaprobe sank in the Gulf of Mexico, about 130 nautical miles south-southeast of Mobile, Alabama. Before the vessel sank, all 12 crewmembers evacuated to inflatable liferafts from which the United States Coast Guard rescued them shortly thereafter. Three crewmembers were injured.
Although the Seaprobe was not required to undergo Coast Guard inspection, 2 two other safety strategies were in place: a load line certificate and a safety management system. However, because the vessel owner did not adhere to these strategies, they did not prevent the sinking:
The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) issued an international load line certificate for the Seaprobe on March 29, 2012. The certificate was valid until January 31, 2017. Under the load line regulations found in 46 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 42, the operators of the vessel should have informed ABS before they installed doubler plates over the freeing ports and departed port without repairing the bottom of the exhaust trunk. Having a load line is contingent on weathertight integrity of the vessel above the freeboard deck. Blocking the drainage of water from the deck and operating at sea with openings to the engine room were changes to the conditions of the vessel requiring ABS to revisit the vessel and reassess the load line assignment. ABS, after examining the condition of the vessel and the operators proposal for permanent repairs, would have decided whether to allow the vessel to depart Tampa in the condition that it was. Title 46 CFR 42.07-55 (b) states that load line certificates may be canceled due to conditions such as closed freeing ports and wasted exhaust trunks.
Coast Guard vessel records show that the Seaprobe owner held a valid International Safety Management Code Document of Compliance and Safety Management Certificate issued by ABS. One of the four objectives of a safety management system is to ensure compliance with the mandatory rules and regulations when developing procedures for the safety management system. The safety management system requires documents for vessel maintenance procedures, which are used to verify that all company vessels are maintained in conformity with relevant rules and regulations. The Seaprobe owners failure to discuss the wasted exhaust trunk and closing of the freeing ports with ABS meets the definition of nonconformity under the safety management system.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the flooding and subsequent sinking of the Seaprobe was the decision of the vessel owner to delay making permanent repairs to the starboard-side exhaust trunk and covering six of the vessels freeing ports, leaving the Seaprobe susceptible to downflooding from boarding seas. Contributing to the accident was the owners failure to comply with the vessels safety management system and mandatory load line regulations. |
Further details may be found by reading the NTSB Marine Accident Brief