Casualty News – Page 390 – Professional Mariner

02 Mar

Six fishermen die after collision with tow on Ohio River

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

Six recreational fishermen died after their 17-foot boat was struck by a towboat and its barges on the Ohio River, about 25 miles northeast of Louisville, Ky. The accident occurred in the early Sunday morning darkness on July 15, 2001. The towboat Elaine G was traveling at about 6 knots down the navigation channel of the river while pushing 14…

02 Mar

Bridge shears wheelhouse off bulker

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

As the bow of Windoc, a 730-foot-long Great Lakes bulker, began passing under a highway bridge over the Welland Canal, the three men in the wheelhouse came to a horrifying realization: the lift span was closing. The upper part of Windoc's superstructure was sliced away by a bridge over the Welland Canal. The bridge also knocked off the ship's stack,…

01 Mar

Tour boat and Coast Guard 24-footer collide off Miami Beach

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

A Coast Guard rescue boat and a sightseeing passenger vessel collided in January off Miami Beach, catapulting two Coast Guardsmen overboard and injuring nine other people. Officials said the 24-foot rigid-hull Coast Guard boat was on routine safety patrol in clear and calm conditions at about 2000 on Jan. 12, when it collided with Bayside Blaster, a 65-foot passenger…

01 Mar

Life-raft canister falling from ship kills worker on gangway

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

A shore-based contractor died after being struck by a life-raft canister that was accidentally released from its cradle aboard a containership. The canister fell from a cradle on the port side of President Polk. The canister was one of two that were being returned to service on President Polk. They were dropped 50 feet to the dock at the Port…

01 Mar

Interstate bridge struck by barge collapses, killing 14 people

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

Fourteen motorists were killed in May when the 99-foot-long towboat Robert Y. Love, pushing two empty 298-foot-long barges on the Arkansas River, veered off course and struck the Interstate 40 bridge in Webbers Falls, Okla. A section of roadway rests on the barge that knocked out the supports of the I-40 bridge across the Arkansas River. The piers that collapsed…

01 Mar

‘Super-rust’ in Castor leads to calls for more stringent inspections

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News, Maritime News

The plating of the oil tanker Castor corroded up to seven times faster than normal, causing massive cracks across its deck that put the ship at risk of explosion or a hull rupture, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has determined. The cracking in the deck of Castor, a 600-foot tanker, sent an alarm through the industry. The rapid corrosion…

01 Mar

Three offshore oil vessels sink within three days off Louisiana

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

Three offshore oil vessels sank in the Gulf of Mexico in as many days in May. The Coast Guard is investigating the string of sinkings that occurred May 8 to May 10 off the Louisiana coast. In two of the incidents, vessels struck the sides of offshore platforms during routine operations. There were no injuries or deaths in any of…

01 Mar

Tugboat rolls on its side after striking tanker

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

A tugboat collided with an oil tanker in January and rolled on its side before righting itself in stormy seas off of Washington. Two crewmen of the tugboat Sea King suffered minor injuries, but the evidence suggests the accident could have been much worse. When the tug rolled, its crewmembers were tossed about as water poured through the topside hatches…

01 Mar

Two killed in explosion of gasoline barge in New York Harbor

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

Two crewmembers on Bouchard Transportation Co.'s barge B125 were killed when the barge exploded on Feb. 21 while unloading gasoline at an ExxonMobil storage facility on Staten Island, N.Y. A Coast Guard patrol boat maintains a security zone as the New York City fireboat McKean pours cooling water on Bouchard B35 after a nearby barge caught fire while unloading gasoline.…

01 Mar

Deviation from float plan hurt effort to save Coast Guardsmen

Professional Mariner StaffCasualty News

Deviation from a filed float plan and lack of proper equipment and clothing contributed to the deaths of two crewmembers of a Coast Guard patrol boat that capsized in Lake Ontario in March 2001, according to a Coast Guard report. Four Coast Guardsmen were on patrol in a 21-foot foam-collar boat when they encountered steep waves on the lake. The…