MAIB publishes report on trawler capsizing off Ireland

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has published a report following its investigation into a capsizing incident involving a fishing vessel on June 1, 2022. On the said date, the UK-registered stern trawler Piedras capsized and sank following an uncontrolled ingress of seawater in the engine room.

The skipper of Piedras gave the order to abandon ship, but the abandonment was hampered as one of the trawler’s two liferafts failed to function correctly. However, the second liferaft was successfully deployed and used by the 11 crewmembers, who were all rescued uninjured.

Safety issues

• The crew of Piedras did not have an effective flood action plan as recommended by the Fishermen’s Safety Guide.
• Piedras possibly suffered from secondary flooding due to its trancanil (fish gut sluice) being left open to the sea. A lack of good watertight integrity meant that floodwater spread to other compartments, leading to the capsize and foundering of the vessel.
• The multinational crew of Piedras did not understand the onboard risk assessments and other safety documentation due to language issues.
• One of the two liferafts failed to function, possibly due to a lack of effective servicing.
• A passing vessel did not respond to the accident as the quality of its watchkeeping did not meet the required standards.

Recommendations

While no safety recommendations have been made in this report, urgent safety recommendations (2022/129, 2022/130 and S2023/103) were made to the Survitec Group as part of this investigation to ensure an appropriate level of oversight to confirm that liferaft servicing was both rigorous and complied with statutory requirements; to inform customers potentially affected by noncompliant liferaft servicing; and to distribute MAIB safety bulletin 2/2023 to appropriate vessel owners and operators.

A recommendation (S2023/104M) was issued to all vessel owners and operators that had DSB liferafts certified by the service station Comfer Marin SL during the period January 1, 2017 to June 30, 2022 to immediately contact their nearest approved Survitec liferaft service station to arrange for their liferafts to be urgently re-inspected and serviced to ensure they are fully functional and comply with statutory requirements.

Related publications

A safety flyer to the fishing industry was produced with this report, highlighting the importance of immediate action in the event of water ingress alarm activation. In 2023, a safety bulletin was also issued, about servicing and certification after Piedras’ liferaft failed to inflate during the emergency.