THE MARINE Casualty Investigation Board has said that a proper promotional campaign to highlight lifejacket use at sea is “urgently required”.
The board made its comments in one of three casualty reports published yesterday on recent incidents at sea.
The reports investigated the loss of one Spanish and two Galway fishermen in separate incidents, and the grounding of a Cork ferry transporting Defence Forces personnel after its skipper had a heart attack.
The investigation into the loss of Fechin Mulkerrins and Anthony Coohill off Claddaghduff, Connemara on April 21st last year found that neither man was wearing an approved personal flotation device (PFD) or lifejacket.
Both men had left Aughris pier to move lobster pots when their fibreglass currach capsized. The vessel had only been delivered three weeks before and was in “excellent condition”, the report states, but there was a heavy swell and “confused” sea in the area.
The inquiry says that no records could be found to indicate that either man had attended a basic sea survival course, although both were well experienced in larger fishing boats.
Also no records could be found to show that the vessel held a commercial fishing licence, although one of the deceased had intended to apply for same.
A separate report into the loss of a Spanish crewman, Alvaro Paz Portas, from a fishing vessel, MV Skellig Light II, in international waters on December 28th, 2008 found that he stepped or fell backwards and was caught by the handrail.
A lifebuoy was thrown by the crew but when Mr Portas was a short distance from it, he “groaned and stopped swimming”.
An attempt to launch a rescue Rigid Inflatable Boat failed when the engine would not start. After numerous attempts to assist him, the crewman’s body was recovered from the water.
The vessel proceeded to the Spanish port of La Coruña, some 35 hours steaming time away, in adverse weather conditions.
The report says that “no consideration was given to proceeding to the nearest port, Dingle or Castletownbere”, about 14 hours away.
The inquiry was unable to determine conclusively if Mr Portas was wearing a lifejacket.
In a comment on the report, Michael Quinlan of Skellig Fish Ltd says that as far as he was aware the crewman “was wearing a PFD”.
A report into the grounding of the ferry Ikom Koff the Cork coast on May 27th, 2009, while en route to Bere island found that the skipper Patrick Murphy had collapsed on deck and had died of a heart condition.
There were no other crew on board at the time of the incident, and five Defence Forces personnel and a nurse travelling as passengers took control of the situation.
Efforts were made to revive Mr Murphy – the nurse and all five Army personnel being trained in first aid. Capt Will Collins of the Defence Forces manoeuvred the vessel off the shore and the emergency services were called.