Three hurt in lifeboat drill

[JK]

In another forum, an individual made the comment that as soon as these men hit the water, with today's manning standards, the ship was now unseaworthy. With three being airlifted to hospital the ship would have to be shutdown.
That is grim, it is bad enough knowing that doing this drills is a risk to your life and limb, but now it has implications to everyone on the ship!


UK RESCUERS plucked six tanker crew members from the sea by helicopter and three others were hurt when a drill went wrong off the Isle of Wight.

BP Shipping’s 113,782dwt British Cormorant was conducting a drill with its rescue boat yesterday morning when a cable snapped, throwing the six men into the sea and injuring three seafarers on the ship.

Coastguards winched the men from the water to the chopper and took them to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight. The helicopter subsequently evacuated two crewmen from the ship to a hospital; one of them had suspected spinal injuries.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency told Fairplay that all the crewmen were wearing lifejackets, high-visibility clothing and helmets.

An investigation is being carried out by the MCA.

[aidanmoore]

HI! What are the updates on the investigation of this incident? My wife whose from the Philippines has a son whose planning to study nautical engineering and she's worried.

[jimmys]

It is unlikely the safe manning document aboard the vessel would apply in an anchorage.
In todays manning we would require the 150 person lifeboat aboard our magnificent passenger vessels to load, launch and motor with two seapersons and 148 punters. They sit like parrots on a perch and as soon as the boat moves the spew descends from the upper perches all over the lower perches. It is a sight to see. Fully approved by SOLAS.
Any vessel who can use at least nine men to test a rescue boat does not have a manning problem. Who would put six in a boat in this situation held by a single wire. Must be a Nautical type in charge.
A tanker good ships to keep off. Especially BP.

regards
jimmy

[Big Pete]

Six men in a rescue boat sounds strange. You need 1 to drive and 2 people to pull survivors on board (one of the lessons of the Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea, 2 crew was normal before) Why put 6 in a Rescue boat? It means less space for the survivors you rescue.
I Googled the ship and found a picture, she has a freefall lifeboat, I wonder if this was misreported?
Maybe the crew were going on a quick trip ashore while the ship was at anchor? Or maybe they were planning to train several people in boat handling, sounds like more than just a simple launch and recovery drill.
I am surprised they are talking about a wire failing, I would expect that a damaged wire would be spotted and the falls have to be renewed regularly anyway. Usually the no load release hooks are operated incorrectly, and cause these accidents, because each make works differently and many are counter intuitive.

BP

[jimmys]

You are indeed correct she has a single freefall boat. I am unsure of the latest SOLAS rules as to whether this can be designated as a rescue boat. I think not.These freefall boats are good to launch but terrible to recover and there is no facility usually for persons inside during recovery. The vessel I would suspect would have an A frame launched RIB boat as the fast rescue boat. It is difficult to see in the pics. These rescue boats stow very flat and the frame folds back. It does seem an unusual accident. In a rescue situation the rescue boat needs to be able to launch and recover easily. If there was another rescue boat they would have launched the lifeboat to retrieve the men. Maybe only one boat, the freefall boat.
Again Isle of Man administration, different rules.

regards
jimmy

[JK]

would require the 150 person lifeboat aboard our magnificent passenger vessels to load, launch and motor with two seapersons and 148 punters. They sit like parrots on a perch and as soon as the boat moves the spew descends from the upper perches all over the lower perches. It is a sight to see. Fully approved by SOLAS

I am adding that to my list as to why going on a cruise ship doesn't appeal to me.