Accident Port of Rotterdam

[Mambo42]

Yesterday an accident happened in the port of Rotterdam, a water taxi was flipped over by a tourist vessel. The whole incident was caught on camera and also the aftermath was filmed by many bystanders, which gives us a good impression of what happened.

Since the accident investigation board still has to start their investigation I am not going to speculate over how it happened, who is at fault and what actions should be taken. I am just going to wait for the report to get published.

What is however important to note is the aftermath of the accident where, in my opinion, several wrong decisions were made, which could have cost the lives of the 6 persons on board.

In my opinion it was just a matter of luck that nobody died in this accident, but it definitely highlights something that I at least have never really practiced. When I practice the MOB procedure it is basically to get to the MOB as fast as possible and once next to that 'person' I call it quits, it is good enough.
The accident of yesterday however clearly shows that none of the boats, that came to assist, was able to get a single survivor on board. Now it happened in summertime, but just imagine how this could have ended if this accident would have happened in wintertime.

I will post the links to the videos, most have some commentary from bystanders, but the commentary is in Dutch. If anyone wants to know what they are saying I can translate it for you, but the images are basically self explanatory.

I just wanted to share these videos as food for thought. I have taken 'getting the person back on the boat' as a gimme, in other words, I can do that easily. This video demonstrates it is not that easy. Of course I would use the swim platform and not the side entrance, but still, the question lingers: 'can I really do it ?'.

https://www.telegraaf.nl/video/875451844/heftig-keiharde-botsing-boten-bij-erasmusbrug-gefilmd


https://www.nu.nl/294234/video/rondvaartboot-botst-tegen-watertaxi-in-rotterdam.html

 

[wkearney99]

The video is grainy but the water taxi looks like sped up, as if to skirt around the bow of the much larger vessel.

We're fortunate in that our swim platform is hydraulic and can be lowered into the water. We've used it to help a friend's older dog be able to get in/out of the water, and could just as easily use it for aiding in a MOB situation. As to whether my regular 'crew' understands this... that's a drill worth testing...

 

[Portage_Bay]

I couldn't get the 2nd video with the rescue attempts to play so I can't comment on their sucess / failure. I can tell of my experiences. OP is absoultely correct, getting alongside the victim is only step 1.

1 - In drills using an "Oscar", a dummy made up of fire hose in approximate human shape that is quite heavy and limp. It's supposed to be similar to recovering and unconcious victim. It's very difficult with a young-ish crew of several strong individuals. For a late middle age cruising couple with one in the water and one on board it would be impossible. Absolutely impossible.

2 - In drills using the ever popular life sling with a live "victim" was educational in two respects. The first attempt was painful for the "victim" and if we had persisted could well have caused back injury. The collar needs to be much higher than the victim thinks it should be.. As high as it can possibly be so that the lift strain is under the arms, not on the spine which is bent backwards. The PFD (which all on deck should be wearing) tends to interfere with getting the collar as high as it needs to be The difficutly of getting the victim aboard cannot be understated. If they are capable of self assist it's not too bad. When the "victim" was asked to be "helpless" it was near impossible without several strong crew or mechanical assist.

3 - Related to #2 above we found a multi part rope fall marketed for use with the life sling. There were two problems when we installed and tested. The first is that there aren't enough parts to give the mechanical advantage for a small-ish person to lift a large-ish person. Think a well rounded late middle aged man in the water and his much smaller wife on deck. The second was that the diamater of the line is too small for cold wet hands to really work with. If you're going to go this route build your own rope fall with enough parts and large enough line to make it possible.

4 - A real life incident. While running a 125' passenger boat in the 1000 Islands area of the St. Lawrence River while disembarking a male passenger fell between the boat and the concrete pier as the boat got pushed against the pier from the pressure wave of a passing ship. He was larger than the now compressed fenders and got crushed. Without thinking I bent over, hands below my ankles, grabbed his clothing and in one move hauled him to the pier when the boat bounced off the fenders back towards the river. I was 28 at the time. I'm now staring 71 in the face and absolutely certain I could not repeat that feat. DO NOT understimate the effects of age. I still do some manual labor every day, am very active and in good condition. But I know I don't have the strength, flexibility and speed I once had.

Do everything you can, rig anything you need to in order to get the victim up out of the water to the point where you can get beside them, arms around them and help them aboard. There are no general answers. Each boat and every scenario is different. Don't try to figure it out for the first time in the moment.






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[koliver]

The first video (all I can see) reminds me of the BC Ferry that rolled over a 33' pleasure boat boat, resulting in loss of life.
Kwok v BC Ferries
"The master of the ferry claimed that the vessels were travelling parallel and that the pleasure craft turned to port in front of the ferry two minutes before the collision at which time the master sounded his whistles. The operator of the pleasure craft claimed that the ferry was in his blind spot. "
The Court awarded damages, apportioned 2/3 liability to the ferry, 1/3 to the much smaller pleasure boat.

 

[Hippocampus]

Prior wife’s family was from Bruges Belgium. So go back/forth frequently Often went to Rotterdam as it’s a amazing harbor and just taking any kind of boat to sightsee is great fun. Very active harbor with a very diverse collection of vessels so can see such an accident being not unlikely. Once again look at this as an example coastal has as many (if not more) dangers than offshore. We do have a 4:1 purchase block and tackle, a lifesling and a MOM-8. But still think at all times the real safety measure is -don’t fall off the boat and don’t get hit-period.

 

[tiltrider1]

The water taxi will claim he had starboard rights. The tourist ship will claim right of way because the water taxi was over taking and the tourist ship was restricted inability to maneuver due to narrow water way. The courts will hand out a 60/40 fault to both parties.

Now who gets the 60 and who gets the 40 I have no idea. This is speculation as all I have is the video. There will be a lot more information available to the court.

 

[Hippocampus]

Never understood admiralty court judgments. Thought rules of the road are fairly clear so there’s one vessel at fault. Seems it never gets judged that way. Haven’t gotten over the story of the PWC that struck an anchored cruiser who was in the middle of anchorage surrounded by about a hundred other anchored boats. Idiots speeding on the jet ski suffered permanent injuries but the anchored vessel still found to be partially at fault because it wasn’t flying a black ball. Was told event occurred after the sun went down. Ridiculous.

 

[tiltrider1]

The first rule in admiralty law, don’t hit another boat. This means when two boats collide both parties broke rule number one so both are at fault. All that is left is to figure out who screwed up more.

 

[Mambo42]

I understand that the second link is not really visible for everyone, possibly because of copyright reasons.

Therefore an additional link of the 'rescue effort'



https://www.dumpert.nl/?selectedId=100036561_079161ba

 

[Mambo42]

Never understood admiralty court judgments. Thought rules of the road are fairly clear so there’s one vessel at fault. Seems it never gets judged that way. Haven’t gotten over the story of the PWC that struck an anchored cruiser who was in the middle of anchorage surrounded by about a hundred other anchored boats. Idiots speeding on the jet ski suffered permanent injuries but the anchored vessel still found to be partially at fault because it wasn’t flying a black ball. Was told event occurred after the sun went down. Ridiculous.

@ Hippocampus


That is indeed ridiculous. There is absolutely nothing that a boat on anchor can do to avoid a collision. Even if they would want to cut the anchor, they won't be able to start up the engines and move out of the way.

When you go jetskiing in an anchorage you know that all the boats are on anchor, anchorball or not. You should be able to see the rather huge anchor chain.

 

[Mambo42]

The water taxi will claim he had starboard rights. The tourist ship will claim right of way because the water taxi was over taking and the tourist ship was restricted inability to maneuver due to narrow water way. The courts will hand out a 60/40 fault to both parties.

Now who gets the 60 and who gets the 40 I have no idea. This is speculation as all I have is the video. There will be a lot more information available to the court.

@ Tiltrider,


I am also very curious to how this is going to end. Chances are that the sightseeing boat never even saw the taxi coming. That boat came up fast and suddenly from the starboard side, probably was in the dead corner. It is not that these tourist boats have a large crew on the bridge deck. Probably just one guy, maximum 2. These tours last 1 or 2 hours and most of the time the captain also has the duty of talking in a microphone.



The one thing that completely bewilders me is 'what was the captain of the water taxi thinking ?"

Did he not see this huge tourist boat ?

Did he really think he could cut in front ?
Or did he indeed have a medical problem ?
And why did none of the passengers intervene ? Chances are at least one passenger was standing next to the captain, so did they say anything or were they just silent and hoping nothing would happen ?

 

[Mambo42]

Prior wife’s family was from Bruges Belgium. So go back/forth frequently Often went to Rotterdam as it’s a amazing harbor and just taking any kind of boat to sightsee is great fun. Very active harbor with a very diverse collection of vessels so can see such an accident being not unlikely. Once again look at this as an example coastal has as many (if not more) dangers than offshore. We do have a 4:1 purchase block and tackle, a lifesling and a MOM-8. But still think at all times the real safety measure is -don’t fall off the boat and don’t get hit-period.

After having seen this accident I am also going to purchase one of those blocks. I thought I could use my hoist to get the people out of the water when necessary, but realize now that I need something better. I don't want to end up in a situation where I am in the water and my wife has to lift me out. I am much much bigger than she is, she won't be able to get me onboard.

Am really going to address this issue the coming weeks. This incident in Rotterdam definitely is an eye opener. But I agree, main rule is 'don't fall off a boat !'

 

[Mambo42]

I couldn't get the 2nd video with the rescue attempts to play so I can't comment on their sucess / failure. I can tell of my experiences. OP is absoultely correct, getting alongside the victim is only step 1.

1 - In drills using an "Oscar", a dummy made up of fire hose in approximate human shape that is quite heavy and limp. It's supposed to be similar to recovering and unconcious victim. It's very difficult with a young-ish crew of several strong individuals. For a late middle age cruising couple with one in the water and one on board it would be impossible. Absolutely impossible.

I agree with you, if I would be in the water and my wife would have to steer the boat and get me out.....that is just not going to work.

2 - In drills using the ever popular life sling with a live "victim" was educational in two respects. The first attempt was painful for the "victim" and if we had persisted could well have caused back injury. The collar needs to be much higher than the victim thinks it should be.. As high as it can possibly be so that the lift strain is under the arms, not on the spine which is bent backwards. The PFD (which all on deck should be wearing) tends to interfere with getting the collar as high as it needs to be The difficutly of getting the victim aboard cannot be understated. If they are capable of self assist it's not too bad. When the "victim" was asked to be "helpless" it was near impossible without several strong crew or mechanical assist.

After seeing the video of this real time situation in Rotterdam it has become painfully clear that getting the boat to the position of the MOB is the easy part. The most difficult part is indeed getting the person out. I realize I have not paid enough attention to that.

3 - Related to #2 above we found a multi part rope fall marketed for use with the life sling. There were two problems when we installed and tested. The first is that there aren't enough parts to give the mechanical advantage for a small-ish person to lift a large-ish person. Think a well rounded late middle aged man in the water and his much smaller wife on deck. The second was that the diamater of the line is too small for cold wet hands to really work with. If you're going to go this route build your own rope fall with enough parts and large enough line to make it possible.

Great tips !

4 - A real life incident. While running a 125' passenger boat in the 1000 Islands area of the St. Lawrence River while disembarking a male passenger fell between the boat and the concrete pier as the boat got pushed against the pier from the pressure wave of a passing ship. He was larger than the now compressed fenders and got crushed. Without thinking I bent over, hands below my ankles, grabbed his clothing and in one move hauled him to the pier when the boat bounced off the fenders back towards the river. I was 28 at the time. I'm now staring 71 in the face and absolutely certain I could not repeat that feat. DO NOT understimate the effects of age. I still do some manual labor every day, am very active and in good condition. But I know I don't have the strength, flexibility and speed I once had.

Great respect for you, you saved someone's life and that should never be forgotten.
I don't even think I would have been able to pull someone from below my ankles and lift him out of the water. As you can see in the incident in Rotterdam, none of the first responders could do it neither. So you basically showed non human strength by pulling it off.

I am 60 now and not as flexible as I once was. Have my back pain, my joints hurt, in other words I am definitely not like I used to be an in my earlier days I would not have been able to do what you did, so I won't be able to do it now. Luckily my wife weighs around 100 pounds, I will be able to get her out, but a friend of mine is close to 250 pounds, that is not going to work.

Do everything you can, rig anything you need to in order to get the victim up out of the water to the point where you can get beside them, arms around them and help them aboard. There are no general answers. Each boat and every scenario is different. Don't try to figure it out for the first time in the moment.

I will start looking for workable solutions. That what I had in mind is not going to work, so much is clear now.

Great tips.






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[twistedtree]

Another thing to consider with all of these hoist solutions is how long it will take for someone to 1) find the gear, 2) figure out how to rig it, 3) find a proximate strong point to attach the gear, 4) lower it, 5)somehow get the victim hooked to the gear, 6) lift the person and get them pulled into the boat.


It doesn't sound like a pretty situation.

 

[magna 6882]

Ladder?

 

[wkearney99]

Ladder?

This presumes the MOB victim is conscious and/or has enough mobility to use a ladder. If their injuries are such, or they're 'out cold' then dealing with them as 'dead weight' would require some sort of lift or hoisting scheme.

Which leads to the question of whether everyone/anyone else on board is going to know where the gear necessary is stowed, and how to operate it.

 

[wkearney99]

I understand that the second link is not really visible for everyone, possibly because of copyright reasons.

Therefore an additional link of the 'rescue effort'

https://www.dumpert.nl/?selectedId=100036561_079161ba

YIKES. The passengers were STILL IN THERE while it was capsized and being pulled over by the other boat?

And then when they popped up and were in the water, those others boats were milling around a LOT closer than I'd think would be safe, given the propellers.

And NOBODY died? Wow.

 

[Blissboat]

How that collision could have happened as it did is incomprehensible, so I hope the accident report becomes available. And, as Mambo notes, the rescue video tells a powerful story about recovering MOBs.

It's unclear why none of the DHG boat crews were trying to recover victims onto their stern platforms. Admittedly only one of the boats appeared to have a gate onto the platform, and the platforms themselves appeared wet and slippery. But given the emergency situation, it seems as though someone would have climbed out there and tried to haul people out of the water.

Thankful everyone was rescued!

 

[Blissboat]

As for the DHG taxi whose crew stepped onto the upturned hull, got a line on the running gear, powered ahead to roll the capsized vessel over and freed the trapped pax, just wow. Those sailors seriously deserve medals for seamanship and lifesaving.

 

[magna 6882]

Then under your senario a second person would need to get into the water meaning a third on the boat to help get two people out. My first thought would be to get a line around them under there armpits so i could make sure they didnt drown then get them to the swim step where i would have more options. I could always use the pot puller.I have staples on my swim stem giving me more options to hitch them up.
It is good to have these conversations but getting them flotation as a first step while calling for help with a mayday or pon pon if you think you have it under control.

This presumes the MOB victim is conscious and/or has enough mobility to use a ladder. If their injuries are such, or they're 'out cold' then dealing with them as 'dead weight' would require some sort of lift or hoisting scheme.

Which leads to the question of whether everyone/anyone else on board is going to know where the gear necessary is stowed, and how to operate it.

 

[wkearney99]

Then under your scenario a second person would need to get into the water meaning a third on the boat to help get two people out.

Well, yeah, if they're out cold or otherwise beyond able to help themselves any scenario is going to require someone to get to them to assist. Otherwise more time gets spent trying to play cowboy lassoing them. With only two people present it would obviously not be a good plan to have the boat left without someone aboard. But I'm not looking to argue about it.

My first thought would be to get a line around them under there armpits so i could make sure they didnt drown then get them to the swim step where i would have more options. I could always use the pot puller.I have staples on my swim stem giving me more options to hitch them up.
It is good to have these conversations but getting them flotation as a first step while calling for help with a mayday or pon pon if you think you have it under control.

If there was any sort of incapacitation or head injury I'd certainly get a mayday out. For a simple, oops, fell overboard... possibly not. But add factors like cold temperatures or possible impact to their head... I'd definitely lean toward getting them to medical aid asap. I'd much rather tilt the balance toward safe versus sorry.

I think the real conversation here isn't how we (that presume to know what we're doing) would do for someone else. But how would the others help us if we were the one in the water.

 

[rcsomany]

The first video (all I can see) reminds me of the BC Ferry that rolled over a 33' pleasure boat boat, resulting in loss of life.
Kwok v BC Ferries
"The operator of the pleasure craft claimed that the ferry was in his blind spot. "

https://www.bcferries.com/on-the-ferry/our-fleet/queen-of-cowichan/QCOW

 

[Mambo42]

This presumes the MOB victim is conscious and/or has enough mobility to use a ladder. If their injuries are such, or they're 'out cold' then dealing with them as 'dead weight' would require some sort of lift or hoisting scheme.

Which leads to the question of whether everyone/anyone else on board is going to know where the gear necessary is stowed, and how to operate it.

Indeed we are speaking about multiple different situations. MOB is conscious and can help in his/her own rescue or MOB is not conscious and cannot help.

Then there is the situation of which part of the year it is. If the water is freezing cold you simply don't have enough time to get the person on board. You may have a maximum of a couple of minutes. If it is summer you have much more time.

And then of course you have the sea state itself. Is it calm and the person just slipped or is it a very rough sea and a wave took this person overboard.

That last situation will not be a factor for me, we don't go out in storms or when a storm is predicted, which does not mean you could not end up in rough weather, but not windforce 8 or 9.

If the MOB is conscious they can assist, swim to the swim platform or hold on to a buoy and be pulled to the boat. That should go fairly easy. When the person is unconscious it becomes a completely different story. Normally it is just me and my wife on the boat, so it will be one of us who is in the water. If she is in the water then the chances are good I can get her out of the water. She does not weigh that much and I can manoeuvre the boat via the remote control. My wife can also do that, but there is no way she can lift me out of the water. Am not obese, but 80 kg is a bit much for a 50 kg person, have to be realistic in that.
I was first thinking to keep the hoist in a ready position when underway. It has a remote control, the line can get all the way to the water, so it is just a matter of getting the person in a sling.
I still see that as an option, but also decided to buy 2 hoist blocks with triple line. That can be hooked onto support I have for the hoist and best part, I can leave it in place while underway. It sounds like overdoing it, but am pretty sure those passengers in Rotterdam never thought anything could go wrong.
And as a matter of thought: 'if I do need to learn how to bring the boat back to a person who fell overboard, but I then have no clue how to get them on board...............I may as well tell everyone that they are on their own once they go overboard.'

 

[Mambo42]

It is good to have these conversations but getting them flotation as a first step while calling for help with a mayday or pon pon if you think you have it under control.

I recently had a discussion with a sailing instructor about whether to make a Mayday call or not as soon as the person went overboard. I first felt that if I could handle the situation I would not bother the Coast Guard.
But then he came up with a very good reasoning why you need to make a Mayday call immediately.

If a person goes overboard, the chances are the person will get water in their lungs just because of a reaction of hitting the water. When the water is colder than expected people usually gasp for air and thus they can get a lot of water inside. If it happens on a lake where the water is not salt then it is not good, but it is not life threatening.
However, if it happens at sea, in salt water and the person gets salt water in his lungs there is the possibility of secondary drowning. Even when all the salt water is out of their lungs and the person seems to be doing fine, the salt in the lungs will start doing their work after a couple of hours. The salt will cause the lungs to start attracting fluids from within the body, resulting in the lungs flooding and thereby drowning the victim in his own liquids. Just for that reason alone you want to get any person that fell overboard and got water in their lungs as fast as possible to a hospital. Only there can they intervene when secondary drowning occurs. If the person would remain on board, just lie down or even go to sleep, the chances are the person will never wake up anymore.

After I heard this explanation I did change my mind and pressing DSC now has become standard when practicing the MOB procedure.