The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB)’s report regarding the June 8th, 2014 Shoreway-Orca collision off the Felixstowe coast, in which the skipper’s wife unfortunately drowned, was published today.
According to the report, the accident took place due to both vessels not having a sufficient lookout when the Shoreway dredger hit the Orca yacht in good visibility conditions, at about seven miles of Felixstowe, Suffolk. It further added that the Shoreway’s chief officer altered the vessel’s course, which was followed by the Orca entering a blind sector of non-sufficient visibility, due to the dredger bow’s equipment, meaning the chief officer did not see the yacht until mere second before the two vessels collided with one another.
Mr. Ingram was able to see the Shoreway vessel from approximately 1.6 miles away and judging from its momentum aspect determined that there was not risk for a potential collision and engaged the yacht’s autopilot system in order to go below deck for a brief period of time.
The two vessels collided with one another at 1.31 p.m. resulting in the near-immediate sinking of the Orca yacht. Ingram was successfully rescued from the water by the appointed rescue boat from the Shoreway vessel. Mrs. Ingram, however, who had limited mobility due to her going through a medical treatment recently, could not be found at the time, even though a thorough air and sea search operation was carried out.
Divers were able to recover her body from the sunken yacht the following day. The couple had two dogs aboard, one of them survived.
The MAIB’s report points out that the Shoreway chief officer carrying out watch duties at the time of the accident shouldn’t have been the only man standing on the bridge. It was determined that neither the Orca skipper, who went below deck, nor Shoreway’s chief officer were in accordance to proper lookout requirements during the time before the accident occurred.
All potential risks regarding vessels, and especially small types of such, not being properly detected in Shoreway’s blind sector hadn’t been assessed by the dredger’s Boskalis Westminster Shipping BV owners or the crew, and were also not a part of the master’s respective standing orders or the safety management system of the vessel. The Shoreway’s safety management system was that of a computer-based, fleet-wide, generic safety kind that brought little benefit to the crew of the ship, due to the fact that it did not contain any specific information regarding the vessel, nor did it contain any guidance or useful instructions.
The MAIB formulated a number of safety-related recommendations and also added that marine and port authorities, along with Boskalis Westminster had undertaken the necessary steps towards solving the issue.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
A sea search has been launched for a woman reported missing from a yacht which collided with a dredger along the Essex and Suffolk coastline.
Search and Rescue operation off the coast of Felixstowe.
The crash took place around one mile off the coast of Felixstowe shortly before 1.30pm.
A man on board the yacht was pulled to safety and taken to hospital to be checked over, but a woman and two dogs are still missing.
The yacht sank within five minutes. The Thames Coastguard has scrambled a team to the scene.
A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman said: “Thames Coastguard is this afternoon coordinating a search after a yacht was in collision with a dredger approximately one mile off Felixstowe.
“The man who was rescued from the water has now been taken to hospital to be checked over. The other person on board the yacht – a woman – is still unaccounted for. A large-scale search is still ongoing at this time.
“We can confirm that yacht sank soon after the collision.”
The Felixstowe Coastguard Rescue Team, three lifeboats – two from Harwich, one from Walton – two pilot boats, a dive boat, the search and rescue helicopter from RAF Wattisham along with a number of other vessels in the area are currently involved in the search.
Thames Coastguard announced at 4pm that was widening out the search to take in to account the currents and wind conditions.
The missing woman is believed to have been wearing a lifejacket when she went missing, as were the two dogs.
They have been in the water for a number of hours, with the search entering a critical phase.
Although there are a number of variables such as what she was wearing, the odds of survival decrease significantly after an hour in the water.
A lower body temperature also makes it harder for the rescue helicopter’s infra-red camera to pick up a thermal image.
Markers are being put down around the crash site to aid divers, who are due to search the area at 6pm at slack water to see if they can find any leads for the search.
It is understood the rescued man was recovered by the dredger crew.
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