Report condemns electrics on tragic boat

The electrics on board a boat, which caught fire and sank resulting in the deaths of three men, were in poor condition, unsafe, and potentially dangerous, the Marine Casualty Investigation Board has found.

In its final report on the Castaway tragedy off Castletownbere in West Cork in 2010, the board said that over a period of time, poor electrical practice on board the vessel, and “unorthodox modifications” rendered it “potentially dangerous in many respects”. It left the electrics vulnerable to overloads, short-circuiting, and involuntary earthing.

Three of the four men on board drowned after they were forced to jump overboard when flames engulfed the boat on Aug 16, 2010, about three miles off Roancarrig lighthouse in the bay at Adrigole.