No chance to save fisherman, probe finds
There was no opportunity for a fisherman to save himself or for other crew members to come to his aid, a marine investigation has found.
A 53-year-old Egyptian man died on board the , a 23m Irish trawler that fishes out of West Cork, in November 2016.
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board found the speed of events did not allow the man or any of the crew the opportunity to react or intervene to prevent his death.
The was fishing for prawns, 200 nautical miles south-west of the Irish coast in the Porcupine Bank area on November 8, 2016, when the fatal accident occurred.
Weather conditions had deteriorated at the time but they were not bad enough to halt the hauling of the nets.
The man, who was working as a deckhand, became trapped between a net as it was being hauled and as it moved he was taken with it.
He was physically inverted, crushed against the rail, and then carried over it before landing on a ledge where he was pinned by the net.
The skipper and crew went immediately to his rescue and managed to attach a rope around his body to prevent him falling into the water.
They took the net off him and pulled him back over the rail and onto the deck before taking him into the wheelhouse.
He was found to be unresponsive. CPR was administered but it was to no avail.
The skipper alerted the Coastguard and a doctor at the Medico Centre at Cork University Hospital about the man’s death.
The vessel headed to Castletownbere, Co Cork, where it was met by the gardaí and the deceased was removed to CUH.
An autopsy result stated the man died as a result of haemorrhage and shock resulting from blunt force trauma. Traces of cannabis were detected.
The net that struck the man was particularly heavy, perhaps as a result of picking up stones and debris with the catch, but this would not be unusual.
The crew knew the net was particularly heavy and were making arrangments to use equipment to haul the net aboard.
The investigation could not find how the man came to be underneath the net. He may have moved there by mistake or was pulled by the net.
The vessel’s safety documentation states that all crew should stand clear of a net heavy with stones or heavy objects until it is dealt with safely.
Because the upper deck was not covered by CCTV it was not possible to see exactly what happened.
If there had been CCTV the response might have been quicker but, in this instance, any response would have been too late.
The report points out that remedial works carried out on the vessel since the accident include the fitting of protection bars to the back of the vessel.
A new camera console, with more camera angles for hauling and shooting nets, has also been fitted.
The report recommends that the vessel owner should see how the crew can protect themselves from nets, chains and ropes.
