The German fishing vessel ‘Condor’, foundered on 6 February 2017, 3.5nm east of the Baltic Sea island Fehmarn. The two fishermen onboard the vessel drowned in the Baltic Sea.
The incident
The fishing vessel began its trip from Burgstaaken on Fehmarn. At the start of the journey high productive hauls were reported, resulting in gathering over 3,000 kg of fish on the vessel’s deck. After the crew finished their trip, began to sail back, when it suddenly lost speed, which resulted in its capsizing and foundering in the Baltic Sea.
As it had not returned at its estimated arrival time, the fishermen’s cooperative of Fehmarn notified the waterway police, which launched a search and rescue mission for the missing fishermen.
After a while, items belonging to the capsized vessel were noticed, close to its last known position. A little later, the waterway police identified two bodied floating in the sea, which were recognised as the bodies of the two missing persons.
The vessel was found on the sandy bottom of the Baltic Sea, largely damaged, and was salvaged in order to help in the maritime safety investigation.
Probable cause
Despite of the uncertain conditions under which the vessel capsized, it is believed that it happened when it performed its turning circle, as her stability characteristics were problematic and did not comply with the Guideline for fishing vessels.
Furthermore, apart from the errors in the content of proof of stability in the SEE-BG, issues on 2006, the German Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation considers questionable that is based on the premise of a payload of 5t in the cargo and 2t on the deck, without an explicit requirement.
Recommendations
After the accident, the Bureau of Maritime CasualtyInvestigation recommends the following:
- The Ship Safety Division must review the vessels’ proof of stability and review stability values procedures.
- The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure and the Ship Safety Division must review the rules applicable to fishing vessels.
- The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure and the Ship Safety Division must renew proof of stability and document vessel surveys.
- The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure must revision its carriage requirements for EPIRB’s.
- Survitec Group must reconsider the structural design for the stowage of the combined painter/release cord and corresponding sachet in the containers of the self-inflating liferafts it produces.
You can see the full report about the accident in the PDF below
