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1.In the autumn of 1998 a fishing vessel sank in 10 mtrs of water in calm and
clear weather only 2 nautical miles from her home port.
Divers later found that the Hydrostatic Release Unit for
the vessel?s Life Raft had functioned correctly, but that
the ?weak link? at the end of the painter had been incorrectly
attached to the Life Raft lashing. The ?weak link? prevented
the lashing from releasing the Life Raft. The Life Raft
therefore did not float off to the surface to inflate as
the vessel sank. The three crew members on board the fishing
vessel, as a result, lost their lives.
2.After the incident, the authorities carried
out an inspection campaign and it was found that a large
percentage of Hydrostatic Release Units (HRUs) were wrongly
installed and would not have functioned if the vessel sank.
It was also observed that all HRUs were designed to the
SOLAS standard and all had been delivered with standard
installation instructions.
3.An information campaign on the procedure
of installation of hydrostatic release units confirmed that
there is a need for better instructions on how to install
HRUs for Life Rafts. Based on the above, it is advised that
instructions should be simple and should include illustrations
in the language of the local users. It is also desirable
that a waterproof sticker illustrating the installation
of HRUs, attachable to the Life Raft container next to the
release unit, should accompany the HRUs.
4.All Mercantile Marine Departments, Life
Raft Servicing Stations, ship-owners, ship-masters &
seafarers are to adhere to the above safety measure at the
earliest so as to prevent further unfortunate incidents
as mentioned above.
5.This issues with the approval of the
Nautical Advisor to the Government of India.
Sd/-
(Capt. L.K.Panda)
Nautical Surveyor |
