On 28 January 2009, the chief officer on board the UK registered container ship Ville de Mars fell almost 8 m when descending into a water ballast tank (the vessel’s forward ballast tank). The vessel was on passage in the Gulf of Oman. He was removed from the tank by the ship’s crew and died while being flown to a hospital ashore in Oman by a Royal Navy helicopter. The chief officer had been due to leave the vessel the following day in Jebel Ali, UAE. No postmortem was conducted.
A few days ago MAIB released an investigation report regarding the death of a crewman due to fall. On 17 December 2011, an able bodied seaman (AB) fell approximately 25m into a partially open hold on the container vessel Tempanos while it was berthed in the port of Felixstowe. The AB, Jose Gonzalez, died of multiple injuries. There were no witnesses to the accident, but the available evidence indicated that he probably slipped on a patch of ice while walking across a hatch cover that was partially covering an open hold.
At 1438 (UTC+1) on 27 October 2011, an able seaman (AB) on board the UK registered cargo vessel Scot Pioneer fell into a void space at the forward end of the ship’s cargo hold. The vessel was loading cargo at Belview Port. Although paramedics treated the AB at the scene, he died from his injuries a short while later.
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Officer of the Watch 