Maritime Injury Lawyer Blog

F/V Arctic Storm fire

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:35:14 -0800

314-foot F/V ARCTIC STORM crew contacted the Coast Guard May 20th about an engine room fire, approximately 32 miles off Grays Harbor, WA. Four Good Samaritan commercial fishing vessels (GOLDEN ALASKA, NORTHERN VOYAGER, EXCELLENCE, and SEA DAWN) answered the Coast Guard's Urgent Marine Information Broadcast while the Coast Guard deployed two helicopters and three motor lifeboats.

Good Samaritan crews reportedly took on 78 of the ARCTIC STORM crew, with Coast Guard aid, by evening as the fire was brought under control. Forty-two other crew members remained with the disabled vessel awaiting a tow to Aberdeen, WA, today.

No injuries have been reported, and there are no reports any of the 188,000 gallons of fuel aboard causing pollution. About 66,000 pounds of Pacific whiting is on board. The Coast Guard is investigating the cause of the fire.

Six die in Fire

Sat, 18 May 2013 16:38:56 -0800

Six crew members of a Cambodian crab fishing boat died on May 16 in a fire on their ship. The vessel was anchored in a Japanese port at the time.

A total of 23 crew members were on board the vessel at the time of the fire. In addition to the six that were killed, two other crew members were hospitalized for burns.

The fire burned for about 11 hours before it was extinguished. The six bodies were retrieved after the fire was extinguished and water was pumped out of the vessel.

Tugboat Hits Submerged Object, Sinks

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:11:07 -0800

100 ft tugboat, Kaleen McAllister, sank off Pier 3 in Locust Point, Balitmore on May 4th.
Reportedly everyone had left the tugboat safely by the time it sank.

Apparently the tugboat struck a submerged object, leaving it damaged and taking on water.

The Baltimore Sun reported:

The Coast Guard "got a report that they were taking on water" sometime before midnight, Marin said, referring to the tugboat. Nearby tugs, including the Robert E. McAllister and Dann Marine Towing's Treasure Coast and Sun Coast, tried to assist the vessel but were unsuccessful, Reagoso said.

Efforts to pump water out of the tug faster than it was coming in failed, Marin said, and it sank at the pier, which is used by McAllister. The vessel began to sink about 7:30 p.m. and was submerged before 10 p.m., Reagoso said.

According to marine records, the tug is 102 feet long and was built in 1970. It had 22,900 gallons of fuel and 710 gallons of oil on board.

There was a report of a "small leak" of diesel fuel and lube oil after the tug sank, Marin said. The site has been "boomed off" to prevent any further spread of the leak, he said. McAllister notified an environmental cleanup firm it has on contract, Miller Environmental Group, Reagoso said.

The incident remains under investigation at this time.

Two Barge Collision - Six Missing

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:06:03 -0800

Two Chinese barges, both carrying construction waste and sand collided in thick fog near Hong Kong. Six people were missing.

The force of the impact threw eleven crew members of one barge into the sea; that vessel sank very quickly after the crash. Five of the crew members were rescued, suffering from various injuries, but six could not be found. Divers continued to search the scene for the remaining crew members.

A statement from the Hong Kong marine department said, "The rescuers have searched for them overnight but we are still looking for the six missing."

Cruise ship pool near drowning

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:55:19 -0800

The incident occurred on March 30, a 4 year old boy nearly drowned right after the boy and his family boarded the Disney Fantasy ship in Port Canaveral for a cruise to the Western Caribbean. He was pulled from one of the ship's three pools, according to witnesses, unconscious and not breathing. He had been without oxygen for several minutes, although the exact time is not known. Rescuers performed CPR, and the boy was rushed to Cape Canaveral Hospital before being airlifted to Arnold Palmer Hospital.

Fuel Barges Explode

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:51:51 -0800

Two fuel barges near Mobile, Alabama, close to the renown Carnival Triumph, exploded this Wednesday, resulting in two severe fires aboard. This explosion and subsequent fires resulted in critical burn injuries of 3 individuals who were on board the barge at the time of the incident. Fire and rescue officials at the scene of the incident let the flames burn through the night.

U.S. Coast Guard officials and firefighter responders share that they received the call about the explosion around 8:30 p.m. after the explosion which took place on two oil barges. Responders arrived at the scene, and about an hour later, a third explosion occurred at the scene, followed by another three over the next several hours.

Reports from the scene also show that the Carnival Triumph cruise line was moored for repairs on the other side of the river, and the workers living on the ship for the repairs have been evacuated.

Heavy wind

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:48:40 -0800

As a result of heavy winds, a BAE guard shack and two men who were working in it were blown off the dock and into the water. One of the men was rescued, but crews are still on the look-out for the other man, who remains missing, although the formal search for him has been suspended.

Carnival Triumph - Again

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:44:41 -0800

CARNIVAL TRIUMPH should perhaps be renamed considering her trail of woes. Previously, on February 10, as CARNIVAL TRIUMPH was sailing about 150 miles off the Yucatan Peninsula, an engine room fire took out her electrical power. CARNIVAL TRIUMPH was first adrift and then under tow for days before being towed to Mobile, Alabama, with 3,800 passengers and crew on board. During that time, the emergency power generator proved inadequate to the needs of all those people, resulting in significant hygiene and general health issues.

Now, on April 3, CARNIVAL TRIUMPH broke loose of her moorings at the BAE Shipyard in Mobile, AL, where she has continued to lay for repairs, and drifted into a cargo ship. One of the starboard stern decks, well above the waterline, sustained a 20-foot gash. None of the crew or repair workers on board were reported injured in this latest incident, and she is back at under control.

Crewman loses finger

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:43:08 -0800

On April 10, the crew of 52-foot, Montauk-based F/V SEA SMOKE alerted the Coast Guard that one of their crewmates had severed a finger when he had been working with fishing gear. Located 39 miles southeast of Montauk Point, New York, the Coast Guard air lifted the 23-year-old man for medical care in Greenport, New York, where he was reported to be in stable condition. The man's name and the details of the incident have not been released.

Tug Delta Captain sunk

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:54:03 -0800

The Coast Guard received a distress called from the tug Delta Captain and launched rescue crews; a 47-foot Motor Life Boat from Station Monterey, the Coast Guard Cutter Sockeye -- an 87-foot Coastal Patrol Boat home ported in Bodega Bay -- and an HH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter from Air Station San Francisco.

The rescue helicopter crew located the survivors of the Delta Captain and deployed a rescue swimmer to hoist them aboard. All four were transported to shore in Monterey, and transferred to awaiting emergency medical technicians. There were no reports of injuries.

The tug Delta Captain sank and may still be attached via towline to the barge.

Jury awards $3.45 Million in wrongful death

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:39:29 -0800

33-year-old Lia Hawkins fell to her heath on October 21, 2010. As part of a renovation crew on board M/V SAHARA, moored in Ballard, Washington, part of Lia Hawkins job was to tear out interior walls and dump the refuse over the side into a waste container located far below. While there were no witnesses and some time elapsed before she was noticed missing, all indications are that she was working at carrying heavy scrap metal to the side when she went through a gap in a deck railing, falling four decks into the water. According to the medical report, Ms. Hawkins suffered a skull fracture and drowned. She had no heirs, but left behind her parents and other relatives.

Her parents sued G Shipping for wrongful death, citing the unsafe conditions under which their daughter worked. Not only was the railing unsafe, but another employee stated that how things were laid out on deck could cause a loss of balance while carrying a heavy load. There were little or no safety measures in place on board and there was no one appointed in charge of safety.

A federal court jury has just awarded Ms. Hawkins' family $3.45 million for wrongful death in finding G Shipping negligent in furnishing a safe work environment.

Three rescued from fire

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 11:59:02 -0800

Three people were rescued when their shrimp boat caught fire in the Houston Ship Channel, one of the United State's busiest seaports. Although Coast Guard units and a helicopter were prepared to perform the rescue, a nearby boater witnessed the fire first and evacuated three people from the boat before rescue efforts could be mounted.

According to Coast Guard Petty Officer Steve Lehman, a fire ignited on the burning shrimp boat while it was about half a mile off the Galveston jetties at the east end of the island, near Port Bolivar. Dense black smoke filled the sky above the channel shortly after 10:00 a.m., alerting many nearby boaters and the Coast Guard's traffic service station of the ensuing danger. The 55-foot shrimp boat, believed to be the Captain Hunter, was a fixture in the busy hub of the Houston Ship Channel.

F/V LINDA CLAIRE sunk, one missing

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:49:37 -0800

F/V LINDA CLAIRE capsized and sank early the early morning in Delaware Bay, about six miles west of Cape May Point, while dredging for crab. Forty-foot LINDA CLAIRE was built in 1994 with a fiberglass hull.

Nearby Good Samaritan crews of F/V CAPTAIN BROWN and F/V SANDRA LEE were able to pull two of the fishermen out of the water, as a crewmember of CAPTAIN BROWN alerted the Coast Guard. These two fishermen, said to be Chris Serra, 27, and David Woods, 25, were then transferred for medical care. A search by air and sea is continuing for the third man, Josh Cattlet, 24, who remains missing.

Cargo Ship Hits Tower

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:02:51 -0800

A cargo ship crashed into a 160-foot-tall control tower at the port of Genoa on May 7. Killing six with three still missing. The ship, the Italian Jolly Nero, was captained by two pilots leaving the port at the time of the collision.

Two of the victims were coastguard officers and a third was a pilot for the port, according to the Italian coastguard; the three others have not yet been identified, and were recovered from the wreckage of the tower's lift.

An investigation into the cause of the crash is focusing on a possible malfunction of the ship's engine or steering mechanism.

San Francisco Duck Boat Fire

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:59:15 -0800

San Francisco Duck Tour boats called the Coast Guard because of an engine compartment fire on May 5th. Reports list the number of passengers between 14 and 28 it appears that no one was injured. The duck boat operator had already activated the on-board fire suppression system and everyone was wearing life jackets devices by the time the Coast Guard and an San Francisco Fire Department fire boat arrived. The Coast Guard reports taking 14 passengers off the duck boat to Pier 52, while Westar Marine Services towed the duck boat to that same pier for an investigation into the cause of the fire.