AQUARIUS BF 89

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Safety failures caused death of crewman in August 2015

Safety failures led to the the death of a crewman who was thrown from the "Aquarius - BF 89" according to an MAIB report. Nuertey Annang, 47, from Ghana, was struck by a piece of equipment and thrown overboard from the Banff-registered "Aquarius" off Aberdeen, near Girdleness Lighthouse, in August 2015. He was not wearing a lifejacket, and sank out of view. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report said the vessel's crew had not been adequately prepared to deal with emergency situations. A major air and sea search was only launched after the alarm was raised when he disappeared from view. The MAIB said the accident could have been avoided if risks had been properly assessed, and the catching of fish had not been a priority over safety. The energy with which the crewman was lifted off the deck and catapulted overboard would almost certainly have severely stunned and disorientated him, and was probably sufficient to cause internal injuries. Nevertheless, Annang was alive when he entered the water and was able to keep himself afloat for several minutes. When the crew raised the alarm the skipper's initial reaction was to focus on monitoring Annang's position in the water, and manoeuvring the "Aquarius" astern towards him. "The crew threw lifebuoys towards their crew mate in the water and shouted encouragement, but despite these efforts Annang soon succumbed and sank below the surface of the water. About 15 minutes after the crewman landed in the water, having realised the attempts to rescue him had failed, the skipper used his mobile phone to raise the alarm. The actions taken by the skipper and his crew to recover the casualty were not in line with the guidance provided by the MCA for a man overboard situation, and fell well short of standard responses taught on training courses. Of particular note, the alarm was not raised until after the crewman had sunk below the surface of the water. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency had surveyed and inspected "Aquarius" on numerous occasions during the previous nine years and 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 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.

Stromness RNLI boat spent the night towing the Aquarius

The Stromness lifeboat was paged at just before 10 p.m. on Feb 27, 2015, to help the "Aquarius", whose gearbox had failed to the northwest of Noup Head, Westray. There was a crew of six onboard the fishing vessel, and conditions were breezy with a high swell from the west. Getting regular updates on the position of the "Aquarius" from the Coastguard, the lifeboat arrived on the scene at 12.30 a.m. A long towrope was attached and the lifeboat began to tow the boat towards Orkney at 2 knots, the fastest safe speed given the 5-6 metre waves. The chafe on the towline was a problem and the tow had to be shortened several times. The crew requested the emergency tug "Herakles" to be sent by the Coastguard to tow the "Aquarius". She arrived at 4 a.m. on Feb 28 and attempted to pass a tow to the fishing boat, She arrived at 4am on Saturday and attempted to pass a tow to the fishing boat but this snapped and a second line of thick wire would not fit onto the fishing boat’s winches. The skipper of the vessel was also concerned about the proximity of the tug to his boat and five crew so it was decided to continue with the tow from the lifeboat until another fishing boat could take over. The fishing boat "Discovery" arrived at 7.45 a.m. and put a wire tow on-board the "Aquarius" and began the tow south to Scrabster, leaving the lifeboat and the Coastguard tug to return to port. The convoy reached Scrabster on Mar 1 at 1.45 a.m. Report with photo and video: http://rnli.org/NewsCentre/Pages/Stromness-RNLI-in-all-night-rescue-of-disabled-fishing-vessel.aspx