Offshore Accidents
NTSB Rules Poor Weather Planning, Mishandling of Life Rafts Cause of Trinity II Deaths
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the Trinity II tragedy in 2011 was caused by inadequate weather preparations and ineffective use of lifesaving equipment. Four people were killed when the 94-foot jack-up lift boat was caught during Hurricane Nate. The crew abandoned the ship during the storm and two life rafts did…
Read MoreOfficer in Charge of Queen of the North Ferry Found Guilty of Criminal Negligence
Former B.C. Ferries office Karl Lilgert has been found guilty of criminal negligence causing death in the 2006 sinking of Queen of the North. The ferry struck an island off the northern coast of British Columbia and sunk, leaving two passengers still missing to this day. The ship struck the island due to a missed…
Read MoreUSCG Rescue Crewmember of Tugboat In Waters Off Portsmouth
The Portsmouth Patch reported that the Coast Guard rescued an unidentified male crewmember from the tug NAVIGATOR in the waters off Portsmouth. The rescue happened on Tuesday, July 9 at approximately 6:15 a.m., according to a Coast Guard news release. The crewman had to be medically evacuated from the tugboat, which was near Gunboat Shoals.…
Read MoreFour Injured, One Seriously, in Pipeline and Oil Barge Explosion
This video shows a fire burning near Bayou Perot about 30 miles south of New Orleans after the 47-foot tugboat SHANON E. SETTOON struck a liquefied natural gas pipeline on March 12. Four crewmembers sustained injuries, including the captain who sustained second- to third-degree burn injuries. While there were reports of oil in the shallow…
Read MoreBoston Maritime Trial Lawyers Say Recent Story Highlights Importance of Filing Lawsuit
Boston Maritime Trial Lawyers Say Recent Story Highlights Importance of Filing Lawsuit A recent story from Canada’s CBC News discussed some of the struggles that single father Ian Reid has been facing ever since a workplace accident while working offshore with Hibernia changed everything. “I hurt my back,” Reid said. “And once I hurt my…
Read MoreJones Act Attorneys Look at Drilling Ship Running Aground in Alaska
This video is a montage of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) rescue of crewmembers aboard THE KULLUK, a conical, Arctic-class drill ship weighing nearly 28,000 gross tons. Reuters reported that the ship owned by Shell Oil Company broke away from its tow lines on New Year’s Eve and ran aground just off Kodiak Island…
Read More‘Virtually Zero’ Chance Six Missing Sailors Alive After Cargo, Container Ships Collide
‘Virtually Zero’ Chance Six Missing Sailors Alive After Cargo, Container Ships Collide This BBC video discusses how Dutch rescue teams said it was unlikely that six missing sailors would be found alive after a cargo ship collided with a container ship in the North Sea on December 5, 2012. While 13 members of the 24-man…
Read MoreBoston Maritime Attorneys Examine Crushed Arm Accident, Dock Worker Dangers
Boston Maritime Attorneys Examine Crushed Arm Accident, Dock Worker Dangers A dock accident in Western Australia on December 15, 2012, calls attention to some of the extraordinary dangers maritime workers face on a daily basis. The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) told the Brusselton-Dunsborough Mail that a man’s arm was crushed while working at the…
Read MoreBoston Maritime Trial Lawyers Discuss Spate of Florida Boating Accidents During Thanksgiving Weekend
Boston Maritime Trial Lawyers Discuss Spate of Florida Boating Accidents During Thanksgiving Weekend This video from ABC News discusses the large wave that hit the CORAL PRINCESS on Thanksgiving day, capsizing the 45-foot catamaran and throwing 21 passengers and two crewmembers in to the waters off Pompano Beach, Florida. The Sun-Sentinel reported that 54-year-old Nina…
Read MoreOne Worker Killed, Another Missing and 11 Injured in Another Explosion in Gulf of Mexico
Ann Rolfes, founding director of environmental health and justice organization the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, told the Times-Picayune that “the ink was barely dry” on a record $4.5 billion BP settlement when there was an explosion and fire aboard Black Elk Energy’s West Delta Block 32 production platform in the Gulf of Mexico. “This accident is…
Read MoreFishing Workers Have Highest Rate of Fatal Injury, BLS Says
In a news release issued on October 25, 2012, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said that private industry employers reported nearly 3 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses last year. This resulted in an incidence rate of 3.5 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers in 2011, and marked the first time in a…
Read MoreMan Killed in California Shipyard Accident
A shipyard accident at the Port of Oakland in California lead to the death of a 51-year-old worker, according to NBC News. The accident occurred on October 25 when a crane crushed the man to death in the shipyard. Two workers were attempting to adjust a trolley that was holding the crane when one worker,…
Read MoreFishermen Jump Overboard in Ship Fire
Two fishermen are thankful to be alive after their trawler sank in the Irish Sea, according to sources in England. Skipper Stephen Kearney and another fisherman had to jump overboard after their ship caught fire. The pair were rescued by another vessel approximately 12 miles off the coast of Kilkeel. The men were airlifted to…
Read MoreOSHA Breaks Down Fatal Shipyard Accidents
This video from the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) takes a look at some fatal shipyard accidents—how they occurred, what caused them and how they could have been prevented. This video does a great job of showing the very real dangers faced by shipyard workers every day, as well as…
Read MoreRescuers Recover Body of Airman Killed in Boating Accident
Rescue divers in Florida recovered the body of a 20-year-old airman who was killed in a boating accident on October 21, according to the Pensacola News Journal. The victim was identified by the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office as Colby Siegel. According to Stan Kirkland, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Siegel was…
Read MoreFisherman Critically Injured Aboard Vessel
A Massachusetts fisherman was rushed to the hospital after he fell 14 feet from a ladder to a deck on his boat in September, according to the Gloucester Times. The fisherman was working on the VENTURE fishing vessel at the time of the accident and was rushed by paramedics to the Lahey Clinic in Burlington.…
Read MoreOne Killed in Mississippi Fishing Accident
Mark Barhanovich, 54, died in a boating accident near his home in Biloxi, Mississippi, according to the SunHerald.com. Barhanovich was out on a 23-foot fishing boat when he accidently struck a submerged object in the Mississippi Sound. Following the collision, the motor ripped off the stern and flew into the boat, striking Barhanovich in the…
Read MoreAlcohol Suspected Factor in North Carolina Boating Accident
Alcohol Suspected Factor in North Carolina Boating Accident Officials are still investigating a boating accident in North Carolina that left passengers with multiple injuries, according to officials. The accident occurred in the early morning hours of October 5, in the Intracoastal Waterway off the coast of Wrightsville Beach. A 20-foot boat collided with an 18-foot…
Read MoreThirty-Eight Killed in Hong Kong Ferry Accident
A boating accident in Hong Kong killed 38 people on October 3, according to sources. A ferry owned by Hong Kong and Kowloon Holdings collided with a vessel. The ferry was damaged but managed to make it to port. The vessel, the LAMMA IV, was half submerged and retrieved by a salvage crew. Approximately 100…
Read MoreMaine Boating Accident Injures Four
Four people were injured in a boating accident off the coast of Georgetown, Maine, according to Boston.com. The 22-foot boat ran aground near MacMahon Island off the banks of the Sheepscot River. A nearby lobsterman, Steve Thibodeau Sr., took rescuers to the site of the crash. Thibodeau said the boat left Boothbay Harbor and ran…
Read MoreDOHSA Applies to Certain Airplane and Helicopter Crashes
The Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) made headlines following the Deepwater Horizon explosion, as people became concerned that BP would get away with paying only minimal damages to the family members of the 11 rig workers who died in that tragic offshore accident. One thing about DOHSA that many people may not know…
Read MoreWhy the BP Oil Spill Thrust DOHSA into the Spotlight
The BP Deepwater Horizon explosion occurred more than three nautical miles from the U.S. shoreline, making the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) applicable to wrongful death claims filed by family members of the 11 rig workers who died in this tragic offshore accident. Sadly, because this maritime law is outdated, it can drastically…
Read MoreWhen Tort Reform Backfires: The BP Oil Spill
On April 20, 2010, an offshore drilling rig known as the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. The explosion claimed the lives of 11 crewmembers and caused the largest oil spill in U.S. history. British Petroleum (BP) leased the rig from Transocean. This devastating offshore accident added fuel to the already hotly debated…
Read MoreWorker’s Three-Year Break in Service Undermines His Jones Act Claim
In August, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court ruling out of the Southern District of Texas that an oil rig worker’s three-year break in service negated his status as a seaman, making him ineligible for relief under the Jones Act. Ricky Abram filed a Jones Act lawsuit against Nabors Offshore Corporation,…
Read MoreCrewmember Suffers Injuries to the Face Off the Coast of Nantucket
NANTUCKET, Mass. – The Coast Guard is conducting a MEDEVAC of a crewman from the sailing vessel Bombardino about 140 miles south of Nantucket, Mass., June 29, 2010. The Coast Guard was notified via satellite phone at about 6:35 a.m., that the crewmember had suffered injuries to the face after he was struck by the…
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