Investigators Review Accidents of 2016

Two reports examining accidents that occurred in 2016 have been released over the past week.

The U.K.'s Marine Accident Investigation Board (MAIB) published its 2016 annual report highlighting that there were 687 accidents involving 750 commercial vessels.

The most notable incidents include the foundering of the fishing vessel Louisa, off Mingulay, Outer Hebrides, with the loss of three of her four-man crew, the grounding of the semi-submersible rig Transocean Winner on the Isle of Lewis and the grounding of the ultra-large container vessel CMA CGM Vasco de Gama in the Solent. The MAIB also released its report into the sinking of the Cyprus registered cargo vessel Cemfjord in 2016. The incident led to  the loss of her entire eight-man crew. 

The release of the report comes shortly after the release of the U.S. National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) 2016 Safer Seas Digest for 2016 including lessons learned from the investigation of 27 major, maritime accidents.

In 2016, the NTSB continued its investigation into the October 2015 sinking of the El Faro. After three separate search and recovery voyages, and with the help of many federal and private institutions, the El Faro’s voyage data recorder (VDR) was recovered in August 2016. Specialists in the NTSB recorders laboratory documented the words of the crew, barely audible among the sounds of hurricane winds and relentless seas. The final report is not yet complete.

Vessels covered in the NTSB Safer Seas Digest:

The MAIB report is available here.

The NTSB Safer Seas Digest is available here.