Maritime Injury Lawyer Blog

Fishing Vessel Capsizes, One Survivor

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:50:59 -0800

According to reports, 44-foot F/V MANDY NESS capsized late Tuesday night, about ten miles off Barnegat Light, New Jersey. The shipboard EPIRB was activated when it hit water and alerted the Coast Guard, which deployed a helicopter, a 47-foot rescue boat, and broadcast the emergency to vessels in the area.

Nearby F/V FRANCES ANN responded to the broadcast and was able to bring one of the two crewmembers aboard alive. That person is doing well. However, the other crewmember was trapped under the capsized hull of MANDY NESS. A Coast Guard rescue swimmer pulled that person out, but that person remained unresponsive to CPR and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Tow Strikes Bridge

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:47:26 -0800

Parts of the Monongahela and Ohio rivers were closed late last week after a towing vessel allided with a bridge while pushing 12 loaded coal barges, resulting in two of the barges breaking away.

The Coast Guard reported that at approximately 2:30 a.m. on Thursday, watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Ohio Valley received a report that the towing vessel Marge Mcfarlin, which is owned and operated by Ingram Barge Company, allided with the Liberty Highway Bridge at mile marker 1.1 on the Monongahela River causing two coal barges to break away and snagging a third as they drifted down river.

Two More Bodies Found

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:46:27 -0800

GIGLIO, Italy - Two more bodies were discovered Monday near the Internet cafe on the fourth deck, according Franco Gabrielli, head of the civil protection agency.

The bodies were identified as two women which now brings the total number of the dead to 15. Eighteen passengers are still missing.

Gabrielli said that the bodies have yet to be removed from the ship and the nationalities of the victims have yet to be determined.

The Costa Concordia cruise ship still lies on its side partially submerged as the search continues for the remaining missing.

11 Dead 21 Missing in Wreck

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:45:06 -0800

GIGLIO, ITALY - Sandor Feher, a Hungarian violinist, has been identified as the first body recovered from the Costa Cruiseliner disaster on Wednesday, January 18th. Feher was a 38-year-old violinist from Hungary who was working as a musician on the ship at the time of the accident.

Sixth Body Recovered from Costa Cruise

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:42:28 -0800

ROME, ITALY - A sixth body has been discovered in the wreck of the Costa cruise liner which hit a reef off the coast of Italy on Friday night on Jan.13th. Confusion still remains over the number of victims thought to be missing, but so far 15 are unaccounted for.

Six people are confirmed dead and prosecutors are investigating the ship's captain for manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing a shipwreck. The ship's owner says the captain, Francesco Schettino, caused the wreck by deviating from the authorized course.

Fire Probe Finds BP Safety Breaches

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:55:57 -0800

Norway's petroleum safety agency has completed an investigation into a fire that broke out on BPs North Sea Valhall oil platform. The investigation found that the company had committed serious safety breaches which led to the fire.

The fire broke out last July when a crane engine overheated. The sparks ignited inflammable gases, leading to an explosion and fire. Firefighters battled for more than an hour to extinguish the flames.

Master Lost Overboard

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:47:08 -0800

Sunday, January 8, the Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu was alerted that the 18-year-old master of U.S.-flagged F/V SIVA MOANA had fallen overboard while bringing in fishing gear. The young man was not wearing a life jacket. SIVA MOANA was about 115 miles south of American Samoa at the time.

An air search ensued, first by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, joined and relieved by the Coast Guard out of Barbers Point, using SAROPS (Search and Rescue Optimal Planning System). SAROPS determines the most probable search area by computing information on weather, wind speed and direction, and search object size. The Coast Guard also measured currents using two self-locating data marker buoys. They covered a 2,890 mile search area before suspending the search later on Monday, after taking time, survival probability, and weather data into account.

Crew Rescue by Good Samaritan and Coast Guard

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:44:48 -0800

January 9, the captain of F/V VINCENZO radioed the New Haven Coast Guard, gave their position as twelve miles south of Shinnecock, Long Island, and reported that the vessel was flooding. Soon after, he radioed again that the two-person crew were in their survival suits and were abandoning ship for their life raft, EPIRB in hand.

The Coast Guard sent out an urgent marine information broadcast. Nearby Good Samaritan F/V RHONDA & DENISE picked up the crew from the life raft, soon transferring the VINZENCO crew to a Coast Guard rescue boat. No one was reported injured.
The Coast Guard noted the captain's calm demeanor during the emergency.

Fishermen Rescued

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:43:24 -0800

Late the afternoon of January 7, the Boston Coast Guard received an EPIRB signal from Rhode Island based 55-foot F/V ELIZABETH HELEN. A Coast Guard motor life boat went in search and located the two-person crew in their life raft within an hour, thanks to the crew setting off a red flare. No injuries are reported, although 900 gallons of diesel were on board the capsized and sinking vessel.

Flames Engulf Two Boats

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:42:13 -0800

Two fifty-foot power boats, moored next to each other, burned at the Edmonds Marina early the morning of December 31, with flames reportedly fifty feet high at the time firefighters arrived. A janitor who was working nearby noticed the flames and made the call shortly before 4:00 a.m.

No serious injuries were reported, but a couple who were overnighting onboard their boat near the end of the same dock inhaled smoke and were unable to get safely off the dock until Snohomish County firefighters brought them ashore via rescue boat. Both people were treated for minor smoke inhalation and were released from Swedish Edmonds Hospital a few hours later.

Injured Crew Medevaced to Kodiak

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:32:07 -0800

The afternoon of January 1, a crewmember aboard 57-foot F/V CAPTAIN KIDD broke his arm when it was caught in an anchor line. CAPTAIN KIDD alerted the Coast Guard in Anchorage, which dispatched a Kodiak-based helicopter to safely lift and fly the injured crewman to Kodiak for emergency treatment, all in under an hour of the time of the initial call. After emergency treatment, the man was transferred to Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center, for further care.

BP Settles

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:40:22 -0800

Under a legal settlement announced on Friday, Dec 16 by BP, Cameron International, maker of the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer that failed to stop the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, has agreed to pay $250 million to BP.

BP said it was "in their mutual best interests, and the agreement is not an admission of liability by either party." The companies agreed to drop all claims against one another.

Woman Dies in Dive Boat Sinking

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:29:38 -0800

On December 18 around 3:15 a commercial diving boat, GET WET, with two crew and six dive customers on board, had finished its first dive at Molasses Reef off Key Largo and was begun powering away to a second dive location when it quickly began taking in water over the stern. The approximately 30-foot vessel submerged, trapping two of the customers underwater.

Captain John Nathaniel swam in to pull them out, finding both unconscious. Amit Rampurkarl of New York is now reported in stable condition, but Aimee Rhoads of Washington state did not respond to CPR and was pronounced dead.

Good Samaritan vessel VISIBILITY called for help and was able to take in the GET WET divers and crew and start CPR until the Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrived. Why GET WET sank is, as yet, unknown.

One Dead in Boat Capsizing

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 12:27:27 -0800

Rapid response from Coast Guard Station Chetco River did not save the life of one of three people holding onto their capsized 16-foot pleasure boat near the mouth of the Chetco River in Oregon, shortly after noon on December 22. A witness on shore called for help; the Coast Guard launched a 25-foot boat and crew and recovered the three boaters within minutes of the call.

The two survivors suffered minor scrapes and hypothermia, but the third person was unresponsive at the time of rescue and pronounced deceased after local EMS crews transported him from to Sutter Coast Hospital in Crescent City, California. The Coast Guard expressed its deepest condolences to the deceased man's loved ones.

None of the three individuals were wearing a life jacket.

Cruise Ship Crewmember Death

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 08:19:41 -0800

Aboard the Australian operated Oceanic Discoverer, a 34-year-old seaman was killed when he was trapped in a watertight door in 2009.

According to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, the crew of the cruise ship had been conducting an emergency fire drill included closing and testing hydraulic watertight doors. The master closed the doors using a remote device. Just a few minutes later, the chief engineer opened the doors to the engine room. He became trapped in the closing doors, and remained there for a full 8 minutes.