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27 Apr 2016 / Hong Kong

Safety practices reminder

Hong Kong’s Marine Department has issued a reminder of proper safety practices, following the investigation into the grounding and sinking of a locally licensed wooden fishing vessel.

In its Notice No.28 of 2016, the Department states that the vessel, with a coxswain and a crew on board, was proceeding to Ninepine Group from Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter for fishing when it lost propulsion power due to gear box failure when she was underway at the south of Tung Lung Chau. The fishing vessel drifted to the coast of the Tung Lung Chau, resulting in damage to the hull and flooding of the engine room. The coxswain and the crew abandoned the vessel and jumped into the sea and were rescued by a passing vessel and were sent to the hospital for treatment. The crew suffered from minor injury, but the coxswain was later certified dead.

At the time of the incident, the visibility was good with winds of force 4 on the Beaufort scale. The wave height was about 1.5 metres. The sea water temperature was about 22 oC.

Investigation into the accident revealed the following contributing factors:
(i) anchor was not dropped to stop the vessel drifting towards the coast after the loss of propulsion power that resulted in damage to the hull and flooding of the engine room;
and
(ii) the coxswain did not wear lifejacket when he jumped into the sea.

To avoid reoccurrence of the accident, it is important that
a) when a vessel experiences loss of propulsion power at sea, the coxswain or master should take appropriate measures to avoid consequential damage to the vessel, such as dropping anchor to avoid drifting of the vessel as far as practicable;
and
b) lifejackets should be available for use by all crew members upon abandonment of ship.

For information about operations in Hong Kong contact GAC Hong Kong at [email protected]

If quoting any content from Hot Port News, please cite GAC Hot Port News as the source.

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