Mate Jumped in When Child Fell Overboard
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch has released the report of their investigation into the falling overboard and recovery of a young child from the passenger ferry Snowdrop at Seacombe Ferry Terminal, River Mersey, UK on 14 October 2013. The child’s parents were there but not paying attention.
At 1429 on that day, a three year old girl fell overboard from the promenade deck of the passenger ferry Snowdrop while the vessel was berthed alongside the Seacombe ferry terminal pier on the River Mersey. The child was quickly recovered from the water by a member of the vessel’s crew and taken to hospital. The child suffered minor bruising and the crew member was unharmed.
At about 1427, Snowdrop arrived at the Seacombe ferry terminal and was manoeuvred starboard side onto the terminal pier. The deck crew passed the fore and aft mooring ropes to the pier stage man and the ferry was secured alongside. The ferry’s two propulsion engines were then de-clutched from the propellers and the deck crew lowered the gangway. By the time the passengers had started to disembark, the party had re-grouped on the starboard aft side of the promenade deck. One of the children, a three year old girl, was standing on one of the inward facing outboard passenger seats and was watching the activities on the pier below.
To get a better view of what was happening, the three year old girl leant over the backrest of the seat and rested her stomach on top of the ship’s side guardrail. At the same time, one of the boys was energetically jumping on and off the same seat while the parents chatted. At one point, the boy was reprimanded by his mother for standing on his tiptoes on the seat and leaning over the guardrail.
At 1429, with the parents distracted by the energetic behaviour of the other children, the three year old girl leaned a little further over the guardrail and suddenly fell overboard. She cartwheeled during the fall and fell between the pier’s rubber tyre fendering and the vessel, and into the water.
Snowdrop’s master, who was standing at the starboard bridge wing counting the passengers as they disembarked, saw an object fall and told his mate that something had been dropped overboard. Within seconds, the shouts and screams from passengers in response to the child falling overboard alerted the master and crew. The mate immediately ran out of the starboard bridge wing door, jumped down the vertical ladder from the bridge deck to the promenade deck and went to the starboard aft side. He was followed soon after by the master.
The mate, realising that the three year old probably could not swim and was being kept afloat temporarily by her padded jacket, took the decision to go into the water to rescue the child. He climbed over Snowdrop’s bulwark, stood on the tyre fender, and then lowered himself into the water and grabbed the little girl. He was swiftly followed by the engineer, who climbed down from the pier and stood on the fender.
The deck crew lowered a mooring rope from the deck of the ferry to the waterline. The mate then grabbed hold of this and used it to support himself and the child in the water. The mate, having drifted under the fender, was unable to see anyone above, but he could hear the engineer’s voice and when he saw the engineer’s outstretched hand he quickly passed the child to him.
The engineer lifted the child up and passed her to the stage man on the pier. With the child recovered from the water, the mate began to succumb to the effects of the cold water and did not have the strength to swim to the vessel’s rescue ladder, which by then had been rigged at the stern of the ferry. The crew tried to use the mooring rope to pull him aft, but the master, recognising that this was impractical, intervened and moved the rescue ladder to the starboard quarter. The mate then climbed the ladder unaided back onto the vessel.
Factors that contributed to the accident included:
• The young girl was allowed to stand on the promenade deck’s outboard seating.
• The position and design of the seating allowed the child to climb up the backrest and lean over, and balance on the top of the ship’s side guardrails.
• The parents supervising the child were distracted by the energetic behaviour of other young children within their group.
Merseytravel has:
• Removed the seating adjacent to the promenade deck guardrail on Snowdrop and Royal Iris of the Mersey.
• Arranged for two shore based managers to be trained as Designated Persons.
• Undertaken a full review of the vessel’s risk assessments; crew training and the Safety Management System.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has:
• Increased its oversight of the Merseytravel vessels and the company’s safety management system.
• Reviewed the risk assessments of commercial vessel operators in the Lake District where similar seating arrangements are in place.
As a result of the actions taken by Merseytravel and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in response to this accident, no recommendations have been made by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch.