Latest news with #marineaccident
E&E News
21 hours ago
- E&E News
Worker dies aboard vessel working on Empire Wind
A crew member died last week while aboard a vessel working on Empire Wind 1, an offshore wind project near New York. The incident occurred June 2 aboard the Polaris, a U.S. flagged supply vessel operated by Tidewater. The fatality was confirmed by Equinor, the project developer, which said the incident occurred while a crew member was performing vessel maintenance on a ship preparing to work on Empire Wind. Additional details were not released. 'This is a tragic marine accident,' said Molly Morris, senior vice president for Equinor Renewables Americas. 'Our thoughts are with the family, friends, and colleagues who have lost a loved one. We extend our deepest condolences to all those affected.' Advertisement The Coast Guard command center in New York 'was notified of a medevac on the vessel POLARIS and reported that a crew member was unconscious from being electrocuted,' said Coast Guard spokesperson Breanna Boardman. At the time, the 'vessel was about 27 miles off the New York Harbor' and a rescue swimmer landed and the crew member was transported to the hospital for treatment, Boardman said.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Mexican navy ship strikes Brooklyn Bridge, killing two people
May 18 (UPI) -- Two people are dead after a Mexican marine navy vessel struck a bridge in Brooklyn Saturday, snapping the ship's three masts and leaving some crew members hanging high above the water waiting for rescuers to arrive. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the 142-year old bridge did not sustain major damage, but at least 19 people aboard the vessel needed medical attention. Investigators are working to determine the cause of the accident. Witnesses said the vessel, named the Cuauhtemoc, was traveling rapidly in reverse along the East River on the Brooklyn side and hit the bridge, snapping its three masts one at a time as the boat kept moving. No one on the bridge was reported to have been injured. Ship traffic was heavy on the river when the collision occurred at about 8:20 p.m. EDT, video from local news outlet video showed. The ship, flying a large Mexican flag, which had 277 people onboard, drifted into a pier on the riverbank. The boasts mass were strung with white lights which crumpled and fell in succession as they struck the bridge. Mexican President Claudia Scheinbaum said on X that the country was in solidarity with the family members of the two crew members who died in the accident and mourning their loss. The Mexican navy said the Cuauhtemoc is a training vessel and that 22 of its crew members were injured. The Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883 and spans 1,660 feet across the East River and is supported by two masonry towers. Roughly 100,000 vehicles cross the bridge every day, along with 32,000 pedestrians, according to the city's transportation department. The bridge has long been a major tourist attraction.
Al Arabiya
15-05-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Mike Lynch's yacht doomed by extreme wind, interim report finds
The superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and six others, was probably knocked over by winds of more than 117 kilometres an hour, an interim UK report said on Thursday. The 56-metre-long (184-foot) Bayesian was moored off the small port of Porticello, near Palermo, in August last year when it was likely hit by a very strong downward wind, killing Lynch, his daughter Hannah and five others, Britain's Marine Accident Investigations Branch said. The investigation established that, when the yacht's retractable keel was in the raised position, wind speeds in excess of 117 km per hour on the beam were sufficient to knock Bayesian over. It said it was possible the yacht was similarly vulnerable to winds of lower speed. These vulnerabilities were not identified in the stability information book carried on board and were consequently unknown to either the owner or the crew of Bayesian. 'The findings indicate that the extreme wind experienced by Bayesian was sufficient to knock the yacht over,' said Andrew Moll, Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents. 'Further, once the yacht had heeled beyond an angle of 70 degrees the situation was irrecoverable.' The report said a sudden increase in the wind speed caused the yacht to keel over to 90 degrees in less than 15 seconds. Water came in over the starboard rails and within seconds entered the vessel down the stairwells, it said. Around 18 minutes later, the yacht sank in the 50-metre-deep sea. The Bayesian was built in 2008 by Perini Navi, an Italian luxury yacht maker. It featured the world's tallest aluminium mast, measuring 72 metres (236 feet). Giovanni Costantino, CEO of the Italian Sea Group, which owns Perini, said in August the yacht was 'one of the safest boats in the world' and basically unsinkable.
Telegraph
15-05-2025
- Telegraph
Design of ‘unsinkable' Bayesian yacht ‘partly to blame' for capsizing
A superyacht owned by tech tycoon Mike Lynch capsized off the coast of Sicily because of design flaws and the captain and crew having no knowledge of its vulnerabilities, British investigators believe. A preliminary report published on Thursday by the UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) runs counter to claims by the builders of the Bayesian that it was 'unsinkable' and that the tragedy, in which seven people died, must have been caused by human error. Investigators said the design weaknesses combined with a freak storm of almost tornado intensity and 70-knot winds to capsize the 184ft-long (56-metre) vessel off the north coast of Sicily on the night of Aug 18 last year. It was hit by a meteorological phenomenon known as a downburst – a powerful downward column of wind and rain. The luxury yacht, which was fitted with a 236ft-tall (72 metre) mast, sank in just 16 minutes. Lynch, who was dubbed 'Britain's Bill Gates', was among seven people who died, along with his 18-year-old daughter Hannah, who had just secured a place at Oxford University. The other victims included Recaldo Thomas, the ship's Antiguan-Canadian chef, Jonathan Bloomer, the Morgan Stanley International bank chairman, and his wife Judy Bloomer. Chris Morvillo, a Clifford Chance lawyer, and his wife Neda Morvillo also died. The MAIB's report comes after it dispatched four experts to Sicily in the days after the sinking. The chief executive of The Italian Sea Group, the parent company of the Perini Navi shipyard, which built the yacht in 2008, has insisted that it was unsinkable and that the incident must have been the fault of the skipper, New Zealander James Cutfield, and his crew, which included several British citizens. Giovanni Costantino blamed the disaster on a chain of 'indescribable, unreasonable errors' by the crew, and ruled out any design or construction flaws. He alleged that a hatch in the hull must have been left open. Wind speeds 'sufficient to knock yacht over' However, British investigators said that once the gale-force winds had pushed the yacht over to a certain angle, there was no hope for it. 'The investigation has established that… once Bayesian heeled over to an angle greater than 70.6 degrees (the angle of vanishing stability [AVS]) there was no chance of a return to an even keel,' the MAIB said in its report. The AVS is the angle of heel – lean or tilt – at which a vessel may capsize, rather than naturally righting itself. The report added: 'The investigation has also established that… wind speeds in excess of 63.4 knots on the beam were sufficient to knock Bayesian over. It is possible that Bayesian was similarly vulnerable to winds of less than 63.4 knots.' The alleged weaknesses in the design of the yacht were not included in its stability information booklet, a form of operating manual for a captain which sets out a vessel's physical limits, the British investigators said. They added: 'Consequently, these vulnerabilities were also unknown to either the owner or the crew of Bayesian.' The report said that a study by the UK's Met Office of the weather conditions on the night of the tragedy 'indicated the probable transient presence of hurricane force winds well in excess of 64 knots at the time of the accident.' It added: 'These winds were sufficient to knock Bayesian beyond its angle of vanishing stability.' Bayesian to be examined after salvage operation The investigators also described the terrifying ordeal of the passengers and crew as the Bayesian 'violently heeled over to 90 degrees to starboard, taking less than 15 seconds to do so. People, furniture, and loose items fell across the deck.' As well as those who died, several people were injured by flying debris while others were thrown into the sea. In addition to the MAIB report, Italian prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation. Those being investigated are Mr Cutfield, the skipper, as well as two British crewmembers, Tim Parker Eaton and Matthew Griffiths, for potential manslaughter and causing a shipwreck. Under the Italian legal system, this does not imply guilt and does not necessarily mean charges will be brought. The vessel is due to be raised from the seabed by a consortium of salvage experts in the next few weeks. It is lying at a depth of nearly 50 metres, half a mile from the fishing town of Porticello. However, the operation has been delayed following the death last week of a 39-year-old Dutch diver during preparations for the recovery work. The consortium chosen to salvage the Bayesian, led by TMC Marine, a UK-based consultancy, and featuring a joint venture between Dutch companies HEBO Maritiemservice and Smit Salvage, plans to cut the mast before raising the vessel. Once they have done so, the Bayesian is expected to be examined by Italian prosecutors as a key piece of evidence. An underwater robot has already surveyed the yacht and its tanks, which contain 18,000 litres of diesel. The vessel is expected to be brought to the surface by HEBO Lift 10, one of Europe's most powerful floating cranes, and then taken to Termini Imerese, about 40 kilometres east of Palermo. Maritime experts said that while the Bayesian's design was approved by the relevant authorities, such as the American Bureau of Shipping, it appeared to be vulnerable to heeling and downflooding. They also fear that Italian prosecutors are bent on 'completely screwing the captain and the crew,' as one sailing veteran put it. At least one photograph, which was taken shortly before the vessel sank, as well as underwater footage, appears to back up the crew's insistence that the main hatch was closed. The Italian Sea Group denies any structural weakness in the yacht's design and stresses that the vessel complied with UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency stability criteria. The company said the crew should have closed 'all openings' as soon as the weather deteriorated and should have summoned all passengers to the muster point above deck.
The Independent
14-05-2025
- The Independent
Report reveals final moments of tragic superyacht Bayesian
Investigators probing the sinking of the Bayesian have detailed the final moments of tech tycoon Mike Lynch's doomed superyacht. The billionaire entrepreneur, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among seven people killed when the vessel sank off the Sicilian coast on August 19, 2024. An interim report into the sinking, released by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) on Thursday, shows wind speeds of 63.4 knots (73.0mph) on the yacht's beam were sufficient to tip it over. The vessel may have been 'vulnerable' to lighter winds, but that information was 'unknown' to its owner and crew as it was not included in the stability information book carried on board, the report said. MAIB investigator Simon Graves said the sails were not raised and the vessel was 'running on its engine' before the sinking. 'That indicated a vulnerability that the owner and the crew would not have known about,' he said. At 4.06am local time, wind speeds exceeded 70 knots (80.6mph), 'violently' knocking the vessel over to a 90-degree angle in under 15 seconds, investigators said. 'People, furniture and loose items fell across the deck.' The report went on: 'There was no indication of flooding inside Bayesian until water came in over the starboard rails and, within seconds, entered the internal spaces down the stairwells.' Andrew Moll, chief inspector of marine accidents, said the findings indicated that the 'extreme wind' was sufficient to knock the yacht over. 'Further, once the yacht had heeled beyond an angle of 70° the situation was irrecoverable.' The MAIB is investigating as the Bayesian was registered in the United Kingdom. No date has been set for when the final report will be published. Inquest proceedings in the UK are looking at the deaths of Mr Lynch and his daughter, as well as Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his wife, Judy Bloomer, 71, who were all British nationals. The others who died in the sinking were US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, and Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the vessel. Fifteen people, including Mr Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, were rescued. The MAIB report stated that during the previous day, the Bayesian was sailed to the site where it later sank in order to 'shelter' from forecast thunderstorms. At 3am the following morning the wind speed was 'no more than eight knots (9mph)' but a deck hand thought 'thunderclouds and lightning seemed to be getting closer'. Some 55 minutes later, the deck hand posted a video of the advancing storm on social media, then went onto the deck to close windows to protect the interior from rain. They noted that the wind had reached 30 knots (34.5mph) and thought the vessel was dragging its anchor. At 4am, they woke the superyacht's skipper. Several crew members were working in response to the conditions when the vessel was knocked over six minutes later. Five people were injured 'either by falling or from things falling on them', while the deck hand was 'thrown into the sea', the report said. Two people used furniture drawers 'as an improvised ladder' to escape their cabin. The skipper instructed guests and crew on an area of the deck to 'swim clear of the mast and boom as the vessel was sinking'. Survivors later made their way onto a life raft released from the Bayesian. They went on to be rescued on a small boat dispatched by yacht Sir Robert Baden Powell, which was also at anchor nearby. All the bodies of those who died were subsequently recovered by the local authorities. The MAIB said its report was based on 'a limited amount of verified evidence' as a criminal investigation by Italian authorities has restricted its access to the wreck and other pieces of evidence. has been paused since May 9 when a diver died during underwater work. Further details such as 'escape routes' will be included in the final report, according to Mr Graves, who added: 'Once we get access to the vessel we'll be able to tell a fuller picture of activities on board and the sequence of events.'
