Flooding and sinking of potter Achieve with loss of 1 life
Location: 6nm north-west of the Island of Taransay, Western Isles, Scotland.
Accident Investigation Report 3/2014
Investigation report into marine accident including what happened and safety lessons:
(3,769.70 kb)
Summary
On 21 February 2013, the fishing vessel Achieve foundered 6 nautical miles north-west of the Island of Taransay, Western Isles, Scotland. Although all three of the vessel’s crew were rescued, one of them died later in hospital due to hypothermia.
Safety lessons
- the vessel sank due to flooding in the vessel’s fish hold, most likely because of a sprung plank in the hull
- the bilge alarm in the fish hold had been disconnected
- the skipper did not fully understand how the automatic systems (DSC and RNLI MOB Guardian base unit)
Recommendations
The MAIB has published a flyer aimed at the operators of fishing vessels and small craft that seeks to provide the rationale for the correct use of the DSC system in distress situations. A recommendation (2013/203) to fit EPIRBS to all commercial fishing vessels was recently issued following the loss of the fishing vessel Purbeck Isle in 2012. As a consequence, no further recommendations have been made in this report.
Related publication
A safety flyer to the fishing industry highlighting a number of the safety lessons was produced for this report.
Published: 10 January 2014