The Willamette Queen, an 87-foot-long sightseeing sternwheeler, has run aground near Oregon City. The incident happened around 5:30 P.M. on Sunday. There were no reported injuries to the 80 passengers on board the vessel. Two Coast Guard vessels and a tug responded to the accident and were able to free the Willamette Queen and tow it to Willamette Park in Portland.
The 70-foot tugboat, Gentry B, has collided with a bridge on the Ohio River. The cause of why the tugboat, which was pushing three loaded grain barges, collided with the bridge is under investigation by the Coast Guard. One crewman was reported injured in the accident. The Day Park Bridge was briefly shut down as a result of the accident. Inspectors and accident investigators form the Coast Guard and Kentucy Department of Transportation have since reopened the bridge to automobile traffic.
A crewman from the 792 foot containership CAP GILBERT has been reported as having fallen overboard and is missing 450 miles south of Adak Island, Alaska. The Liberian flagged CAP GILBERT was enroute from China to Mexico when the crewman fell into seas estimated at 20 feet. The vessel contacted the United States Coast Guard to assist in the search for the missing 26 year old crewman from Burma. The Coast Guard search has been suspended after searching nearly 900 square miles with no sign of the missing crewman.
A small Beechcraft aircraft carrying two passengers is reported to have crashed into the water near Sand Point, Alaska. A debris field has been located, but the passengers of the plane have not been located. Coast Guard vessels and helicopters are actively searching the area for possible survivors. The circumstances of the crash are unknown and under investigation.
Three fishermen have been rescued from a sinking fishing vessel near Kodiak Island. The crewmen aboard the fishing vessel, Butterfly, reported their vessel was taking on water and their pumps were unable to keep up with the flooding. A nearby fishing vessel, the Tempest, came to the rescue of the sinking vessel’s crew. The Coast Guard lowered additional pumps to the Butterfly, and the Tempest was able to tow the vessel to Old Harbor on Kodiak Island. The cause of the flooding is still under investigation.
American Seafoods has been ordered to produce the Northern Hawk for inspection by an injured seaman. The matter arises out of a plate freezer accident on board the Northern Hawk in 2008. American Seafoods had refused to allow the inspection unless the injured seaman first agreed to have his deposition taken. Under Washington Court rules there is no priority given to a vessel owner permitting them to take a deposition prior to responding to discovery requests. In this case, the injured seaman had been seeking to inspect the vessel for many months prior to American Seafoods requesting the crewman’s deposition. The Court ordered American Seafoods to produce the Northern Hawk at a mutually agreeable time prior to the vessel departing for 2010 Pollock season, and that the seaman’s deposition was to be conducted only after the vessel inspection. The Court further held that the seaman and his legal experts did not need to sign liability waivers as a condition of inspecting the vessels. American Seafoods will be required to operate and allow measurement of the plate freezer and the plate freezer controls during the inspection. The seaman will be required to reimburse American Seafoods sixty dollars for operating the plate freezers during the vessel inspection. The seaman was represented by Beard Stacey & Jacobsen. The case is Sanchez v. American Seafoods, King County Cause No. 09-2-12715-8-SEA.
In cases involving serious personal injury, the inspection of the vessel by experts selected by the injured seaman’s lawyers is a critical piece of the process of evidence gathering. It is important that all machinery be operational at the time of the inspection and that the accident site be fully photographed and videotaped. What type of experts conduct the inspection is dependent upon the type of equipment and injuries involved. It is important to document the accident site before changes are made to the ship’s equipment involved in the accident.
Three Alaska fishing vessels have been ordered by the United States Coast Guard to return to port for violations of safety regulations. One of the vessels had an expired life raft and the other two vessels lacked primary safety devices. Two of the vessels also had expired documentation. Two of the vessels were home ported in Craig, Alaska and the third vessel was from Klawock.
Coast Guard regulations require life rafts to be repacked annually and the hydrostatic releases must be regularly replaced and serviced. The Coast Guard conducts random vessel inspections of commercial fishing vessels. Remarkably, fishing vessels have few safety regulations that apply to them yet fishing vessels such as these still fail to comply with basic regulations relating to life saving equipment. In the past twenty years, epirbs, life rafts, and survival suits have allowed crewmen to survive many vessel sinkings. These three cited vessels will have to prove compliance with Coast Guard regulations before they can return to sea. Voluntary dockside safety inspections are available from the Coat Guard to all commercial fishing vessels.
Failure to maintain life safety equipment may render a vessel unseaworthy and result in imposition of liability in cases involving injuries and wrongful deaths.
On December 21, 2009, a 740 foot Indian flagged freighter, SURYAVIR, has lost power and is battling high winds and seas 540 miles southwest of Alaska’s Adak Island. The vessel has 28 crewmen on board and is currently handling 20-30 foot seas and 50 mile an hour winds. There are no current plans to abandon the ship which has been in continuos contact with the United States Coast Guard. The Maersk ALTAIR is in route to the disabled vessel to provide assistance if necessary, a commercial tug has also been dispatched and is scheduled to reach the vessel on Tuesday. The SURYVAIR was in route from China to the Columbia river and is reported to be carrying no cargo.
A 33-foot-long Coast Guard vessel crashed into a 24-foot recreational vessel killing an 8-year-old child and seriously injuring five others. The accident happened in San Diego Bay during the annual Parade of Lights. Weather conditions were fair and clear, and the cause of the accident is under investigation. The Coast Guard vessel was reportedly responding to a grounded vessel.
A 20 year old crab fisherman has been reported as lost overboard from the F/V VICIOUS FISHER 20 miles west of La Push, Washington. The crewman was wearing rain gear and no life jacket or flotation device. The Coast Guard is conducting a search for the missing fisherman. The VICIOUS FISHER is home ported in Bellingham, Washington.
This is the second crab fisherman lost overboard in Washington in three weeks. In the first week of December, a crewman was lost from the F/V BALLAD. The commercial crab fishery in Washington and Oregon remains the most deadly fishery on the west coast. Few safety regulations apply to uninspected commercial fishing vessels involved in the Washington and Oregon crab fisheries.
The families of crewmen lost in fishing accidents have rights under Federal Maritime laws including the Jones Act and the Death On the High Seas Act.
Maritime Injury Law Blog