Flooding and sinking of wooden potter Majestic
Location: 5 nautical miles off Yell, Shetland, Scotland.
Accident Investigation Report 16/2016
Investigation report into marine accident including what happened and safety lessons learned:
Summary
This reports the MAIB鈥檚 investigation into the sinking of fishing vessel Majestic (LK678) 5 nautical miles off Yell, Shetland on 21 January 2016.
Safety Issues
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The flood in the engine room was not detected for up to 1 hour because the crew were working on the deck and did not hear the bilge alarm
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No attempt was made to slow the rate of the flood through the operation of the electric bilge pump or by stopping the main engine
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The crew did not conduct emergency drills
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The prompt distress alert and abandonment reduced the risk to the crew鈥檚 lives
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PFDs were not routinely worn whilst working on deck and lifejackets were not donned when abandoning the vessel
Recommendations
Recommendations have been made to the vessel鈥檚 owners (2016/135) to take steps to ensure on any vessel they own or skipper in the future that:
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The dangers of leaving the wheelhouse unattended are fully assessed so that practical measures can be adopted to mitigate such risks;
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Emergency drills are conducted in accordance with MSN 1770 (F) and;
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PFDs are worn by all crew when working on the open deck at sea
Related publications
A safety flyer highlighting a number of the safety issues was produced for this report.