We have a preliminary report of a death last Saturday aboard the Seattle-based factory trawler Starbound.
So far, we’ve been unable to obtain an official account of what happened.
JUNEAU, Alaska — The Coast Guard urges mariners to use caution with the onset of heavy weather expected to affect the Aleutian Islands and Bering Sea, this weekend.
The Coast Guard has notified the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Mellon, patrolling in the Bering Sea with an embarked Air Station Kodiak MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew, to standby to assist mariners.
Capt. Diane Durham, chief of response, 17th District, said,. “We are encouraging all mariners to monitor National Weather Service reports and take appropriate safety precautions, such as pulling into a safe harbor or taking shelter in the lee of an island, in order to safeguard their crews.”
A lawyer representing the family of Lonnie Jordan, an El Faro crew member, has filed a $100 million lawsuit against TOTE Service Inc. and TOTE Maritime Puerto Rico, as well as the El Faro captain. The ship sank off the Bahamas on October 1st, and search and rescue ended after eight days. On October 5th, the U.S. Coast Guard found a body of a crewmember in a survival suit.
The lawsuit was filed family by attorney Willie E. Gary. Gary has accused the company of negligence and putting profit ahead of the lives of its employees. “We hope to get to the bottom of this,” Gary said. “We are at war now.”
“Tote Services, negligently permitted the El Faro to sail out to sea despite being in an unseaworthy condition to handle the conditions of a violent storm,” the lawsuit states.
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A shift in the approach to safety management of enclosed spaces on board ships is needed. Fifteen years ago, while working as an independent surveyor, I was carrying out a condition survey on board a bulk carrier. The scope of the survey included testing the emergency generator, located in the steering flat and accessed by an inclined ladder.
Accompanied by the superintendent and the chief engineer, we had no sooner reached the bottom of the space when the chief engineer urgently ordered us all out. By the time we had exited the space, within seconds, we were all in a state of dizziness and confusion, compounded by our inability to comprehend what had just occurred. Further investigation revealed that Freon gas had leaked from refrigeration machinery located in the steering flat and being heavier than air, had migrated into the emergency generator space, displacing breathable air. It was a lucky escape. Victims of asphyxiation in enclosed spaces deficient in oxygen will normally receive no such warning that anything is wrong or have the ability to quickly escape.
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A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew medevaced an injured mariner from a fish-processing vessel in Beaver Inlet, near Dutch Harbor, Tuesday.
The Dolphin helicopter crew launched from Cold Bay, where they were staged overnight for a different case, and safely hoisted the injured man for transport to emergency medical services in Dutch Harbor.
The crew of the Northern Victor, a 360-foot fish-processing vessel, notified the Coast Guard 17th District command center of the injured crewmember, reportedly suffering from a swollen leg, Tuesday morning.
An injured mariner was medevaced from a fish-processing vessel in Beaver Inlet, near Dutch Harbor, Tuesday.
The Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew launched from Cold Bay, where they were staged overnight for a different case, and safely hoisted the injured man for transport to emergency medical services in Dutch Harbor.
The crew of the Northern Victor, a 360-foot fish-processing vessel, notified the Coast Guard 17th District command center of the injured crewmember, reportedly suffering from a swollen leg, Tuesday morning.
285′ Factory Trawler AMERICAN TRIUMPH called the Coast Guard on Feb 12, 2015 to report that a 36-year old man had two of his fingers severed by a steel door.
A Coast Guard Jayhawk helicopter crew from Cold Bay flew 92 miles north to the trawler, safely medevaced the man, and flew him back to Cold Bay for emergency medical services.
The factory trawler AMERICAN TRIUMPH (previously named ACONA) was built by the Albina Engine & Machine Works in Portland, Oregon, in 1961.
For the third time this month, a Coast Guard helicopter has retrieved a medical patient off the Bering Sea processing ship Ocean Phoenix.
Tuesday Feb 25 medevac involved a crewman, described as 25 to 30 years old, with a “severe injury to his left hand,” the Coast Guard said. The 680-foot Ocean Phoenix was 85 miles northwest of Cold Bay. Coast Guard medevaced the man from OCEAN PHOENIX via helicopter to Cold Bay, and from there he was taken to Providence Medical Center in Anchorage.
The crewman’s name and current condition have not been released. At the time of his medevac, winds were at 35mph winds with 10-foot seas.
OCEAN PHOENIX crew members contacted the Coast Guard, requesting a medevac for a 30-year-old crewmate who had suffered an eye injury about 34 miles northwest of Cold Bay, Alaska, on Sunday morning.
The Jayhawk crew located the 680-foot fish processing vessel and safely transported the patient to emergency medical services in Cold Bay for a commercial flight to Anchorage for further treatment. The man’s name and current condition have not been released.
Seas during the medevac were reported to be eight to ten feet with low visibility and 28mph winds, including intermittent squalls.
Factory trawler 295 foot KATIE ANN had her windows blown out on the bridge on Friday night about 9pm, northwest of Unimak Island, by storm winds which also caused land based damage. The incident was reported in the early morning of Sat, July 8,
The KATIE ANN did not lose power and proceeded to Unalaska, arriving at the Kloosterboer dock without assistance in late afternoon. According to reports, about six crew members were injured and treated at the local clinic, none required further treatment.
Maritime Injury Lawyer Blog