Crew not wearing flotation devices during fatal capsizing, investigators find
The Njord overturned and sank 150 miles north-east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, on March 6, 2022.
Eight crew members including a deckhand who died were not wearing personal flotation devices when a fishing boat capsized, an investigation has found.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) found the UK-registered stern trawler Njord capsized 150 miles north-east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, on March 6, 2022 after a “substantial list” flooded the boat.
Njord’s eight crew abandoned to the vessel’s upturned hull, but none were wearing either a personal flotation device, an immersion suit or carrying a means to raise the alarm.
The MAIB report said “fortunately”, Njord’s emergency position indicating radio beacon floated free of the wreck and alerted search and rescue authorities, who sent a helicopter and a nearby vessel to assist.
The helicopter arrived on scene 45 minutes later but Njord sank within minutes of its arrival and all eight crew ended up in the water.
The aircraft pulled three of the crew out of the water and a rescue ship gathered the other five.
The three rescued by helicopter were taken to Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, where one deckhand was pronounced dead.
A post-mortem examination recorded drowning as his cause of death, the report said.
The other two crew members were kept in for observation and discharged three days later.
The MAIB found the Njord overturned after a sinking net of fish secured to the starboard trawl winch acted on a handrail on the vessel’s starboard side, causing the list.
It also found a valve in a drain in the weather-tight bulkhead on the boat’s starboard working deck had been left open, which allowed down-flooding into its internal spaces.
The investigation concluded modifications made to Njord reduced the safety margin of the vessel’s transverse stability and this led to the boat capsizing.
The MAIB offered no recommendations after investigating the incident given existing guidance on vessel modifications and the wearing of personal flotation devices.
