Changes to sunken trawler not given to marine officials

ALL alterations made onboard fishing vessels should be immediately notified to the marine authorities, according to a report on the sinking of a trawler off the coast of Wexford, which resulted in the death of a crewman.

The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) has made a number of recommendations following its investigation into the sinking of the Rising Sun, which went down while fishing for crab near the Saltees Islands on November 29, 2005.

On the day in question the vessel had started to list after the crew put crab pots into the water. Crewman, Jimmy Myler called out a warning that she was “going” and he grabbed inflatable personal floatation devices which were hanging in the wheelhouse. He gave them to his fellow crewman Ian Tierney and the skipper, Patrick Colfer.

Mr Tiernan later saw Mr Myler in the water and helped him onto the upturned hull, but there was no sign of the skipper.

The two crewmen stayed on the upturned hull for about four hours, but at 7pm the vessel sank, and they were forced into the water. They didn’t deploy their lifeboat.

At 9.34pm the crewmen were spotted in the water and taken onboard the fishing vessel Napier. They were then transferred to the Kilmore Quay Lifeboat and taken by ambulance to hospital in Wexford. Mr Myler, who was in a serious condition when taken from the water, died later in hospital.

The search for the skipper continued for several days. Tragedy struck again on December 1 of that year when local diver, Billy O’Connor lost his life while searching for Mr Colfer’s body.

The following February the vessel was salvaged from the sea and taken to Rosslare where it was put into storage pending an investigation.

MCIB investigators concluded that the Rising Sun sank due to a combination of factors. They said the vessel was overloaded because of the presence of a heavy winch, machinery, trawling equipment and the large number of crab pots onboard.

They also said that the vessel’s stability was poor and the accident was compounded by the crew not detecting the accumulation of water below deck, because the bilge alarm had been disconnected.

Although the trawler had a good record of safety compliance in the past, certain alterations to it had not been notified to the surveying authority, which resulted in it going to sea with potentially hazardous stability.

The investigator’s report added that the vessel had not been fitted with a hydrostatic release unit which would have automatically deployed the life-raft as the vessel sank.

MCIB also recommended that owners and skippers be reminded of the importance of maintaining bilge pumping systems and of having alarms in proper working order at all times.