C6/2001M Ms ANTARES, MOB lifeboat falling into the sea in the port of Uusikaupunki, FINLAND, July 5, 2001

Norwegian roro vessel ANTARES was berthed in port of Uusikaupunki, Finland on July 5, 2001. Ship’s fast rescue boat, MOB, was to be served and it was lowered to water with two men, an engineer and the third mate. The engineer and mate serviced the boat and then gave it a trial run in the harbour basin. They proceeded close to the ship’s stern ramp, where the bosun and chief mate were watching the loading of the vessel. The engineer wanted to go to the ship’s engine room, and he asked the chief mate if he could be replaced in the MOB boat. The chief mate or-dered the bosun to go to the boat station and he went into the boat himself. The chief and third mates then got the boat to its hoisting position, made the block fast and used an extra chain to secure the block. The boat was hoisted up almost to its storage position. The chief mate was just about to step off the boat when he heard a noise, and the boat fell into the sea with both mates. The third mate died and the chief mate got injured.

The investigation concludes that the mechanical splice, (talurite, ferrule) in the fall wire failed ei-ther because of a fault in the splicing process, or because it had been subjected to external stress or an outside force during its use prior to the accident.

C6/2001M Report (pdf, 0.35 Mt)