Capsizing Ships might become the norm.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

In less than a week, I have noted 3 ships capsizing, 1 in Baja, MX, July 4th.....another in Jayapura, Papua and the most recent in Russia in the Volga River.

Across the globe we hear more and more stories of fisherman who can't bring their boats out to do their work.  The seas are angry and unpredictable.  Here''s another story of a fishing boat carrying 27 tourists with 16 Mexican crew members struggling in the sea when the ship capsized.

California residents rescued in fatal boat accident in Mexico

July 4, 2011 |  1:33 pm

   

23

One person was reported dead and seven others missing Monday afternoon after a fishing boat carrying 27 U.S. tourists and 16 Mexican crew members capsized in rough seas in the Sea of Cortez, officials said.

The 27 tourists, most of them from California, were aboard the charter vessel Erick when a sudden storm struck the area about 2:30 a.m., hurling people into the ocean in the vicinity of San Luis Island, about 60 miles south of the Baja California port of San Felipe, the Mexican Navy said in a statement. The body water in which the ship capsized is also known as the Gulf of California.

View Capsized vessel in a larger map

"The weather was calm, and then a strong wind came,"  Dora Winkler, a spokeswoman with the Port of San Felipe, told the Los Angeles Times.

Some of the first people rescued -- two tourists and the boat's cook -- were plucked from the water by a Mexican fishing boat, according to Winkler.

All of the 16 Mexican crew members were rescued, she said. The tourist who died was only identified as an adult male. Initial reports said six people were missing; officials later raised the number to seven.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter from San Diego was assisting the Mexican navy as rescue crews scoured the area for survivors, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Pamela Boehland.

She said the Coast Guard was told by the Mexican Navy that most of the passengers were from Northern California and that one was from Port Angeles, Wash. The search was launched after one of the victims swam to shore and alerted Mexican officials, Boehland said.

"He swam to shore and actually walked to the nearest location," Boehland said, adding that she was unsure whether it was a town or village.

Mexican officials said all of the survivors were wearing life jackets. They were taken to local hospitals and appeared to be in good condition, the Mexican Navy said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/fishing-boat-sinks-sa...

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://newburyport.wickedlocal.com/news/20161018/tuna-boat-capsizes...

Tuna boat capsizes, sinks at mouth of Merrimack Monday

The Coast Guard in Newburyport reports that two men were thrown into the water.

A tuna boat carrying two people capsized – and it’s believed sank – at the mouth of the Merrimack River Monday night.

At about 7 p.m. Monday, the Laurie Ann, a 35-foot tuna boat making its way into Newburyport, took in massive amounts of water from breaking waves and flipped over, throwing two men into water.

“They were doing their inbound transit, and a breaking wave hit,” Newburyport Coast Guard Officer Ruben Colon said. “A good Samaritan called it in and said an 8-foot breaking wave came from their stern [rear] and capsized the vessel.”

That good Samaritan, operating a fishing boat nearby, helped the two men out of the water while the Coast Guard rushed to the scene on a motor lifeboat.

The men were treated by EMTs for multiple injuries including “hypothermia and shock, and there was a gentlemen that had a laceration to the face,” Colon said. “The water was between 55 and 60 degrees.”

Afterward, the Coast Guard searched the water for the boat. They found a life 

raft Tuesday afternoon, and the boat’s emergency position-indicating radiobeacon was found in Salisbury, but there has been no sign of the boat.

“The boat has not been recovered yet, and we believe it is still in the water in the vicinity of the river mouth,” Colon said. “We’re advising mariners to be cautious in that area.”

It’s not that uncommon for boats of the Laurie Ann’s size to capsize near the mouth of the Merrimack, with its often choppy waters.

“With the right conditions weatherize, the bar does break and it is a dangerous area, especially for boats coming inbound,” Colon cautioned.

While boating accident deaths in the northeast have decreased – according to a study released by the Coast Guard this year – 30 of the 34 people who died in recreational boating accidents in 2015 drowned, and 29 of the 34 deaths were the result of capsizing or falling overboard. Thirty-two of the 34 people who died were not wearing a life jacket.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/08/capsized-san-franci...

Rescue after San Francisco boat capsize leaves people trapped under hull

Authorities say all 30 on board, mostly young people, safe after coast guard divers rushed to overturned sailboat near Pier 45

A boat with 30 people on board capsized off San Francisco’s Pier 45, the city’s fire department said on Saturday, with some people becoming trapped beneath the hull.

Coast guard divers quickly reached the scene and were able to rescue the people, a spokeswoman for the agency told the Guardian.

“All 30 people are safe and accounted for,” she said, citing an estimate of passengers, many of whom were young people. She could not provide any specifics about why the boat capsized or who was on board. “There are some adults, but that’s the only information that I have at this time.”

The authorities later described the vessel as a sailboat.

Two people sustained serious injuries, officials later told the local NBC affiliate.

View image on Twitter

 Follow

San Francisco Fire 

✔@sffdpio

PIER 45 BOAT CAPSIZED WITH ABOUT 30 JUV ON BOAT SOME ARE TRAPPED UNDER THE HULL. USCG BOAT/HELIO/DIVERS EN ROUTE.

7:24 PM - 8 Oct 2016

•  
•  3131 likes

[Tracie Crespo]

www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/world/europe/migrants-mediterranean.html

CreditAris Messinis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Stepping Over the Dead on a Migrant Boat

What a photographer saw when a rescue vessel went into action off the Libyan coast.

By RICK GLADSTONEOCT. 5, 2016

It began with blips on a radar screen, 12 miles off the Libyan coast. As the rescuers approached, they found overloaded wooden vessels and rafts that evoked scenes of the slave trade.

Hundreds of African migrants were crammed into boats headed for Italy. More than two dozen people were dead in one boat alone, asphyxiated from the crush aboard. In other boats, bodies were splayed on the floorboards, forcing survivors to clamber over the corpses of their fellow voyagers.

 

Aris Messinis, an Agence France-Presse photographer aboard the rescue boat Astral, said it was like nothing he had ever seen.

The passengers — from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Nigeria and other sub-Saharan countries — were found by the Astral on Tuesday, part of a wave of more than 11,000 rescued in the Mediterranean by aid groups and the Italian Coast Guard this week.

Migrants aboard a large wooden boat, which may have held 1,000 people — roughly five times its capacity — waited frantically for help. Some jumped into the water.

 

Even with life jackets tossed to them, migrants struggled to reach the Astral and other rescue vessels, which later transferred them to Italian Coast Guard ships bound for Italy.

 

Pandemonium punctuated the rescue operation, despite efforts by the Astral crew to calm the migrants. “These people were in panic,” Mr. Messinis said.

Migrants aboard the wooden vessel included infants, like the one below.

In one of the boats, holding roughly 150 people, Mr. Messinis said that rescuers found 29 bodies — 10 men and 19 women. “They told us these people were dead from the night,” he said.

At one point, passengers held a child aloft to signal rescuers of their desperation.

Migrants crammed below deck were packed so tightly they struggled to get out. “Many of them haven’t seen the sea in their whole lives,” said Laura Lanuza, a spokeswoman for Proactiva Open Arms, a Spanish aid group that operates the Astral.

Despite a drop in sea crossings to Europe by migrants this year, more than 3,000 have died in perilous crossings from Libya, where political chaos has made it the main departure point for smuggling operators who care little about whether their clients survive.

Rescue officials attributed the spike in sea crossings in recent days to a stretch of good weather after days of storms and sea turbulence.

The wooden vessel’s cargo hold contained two-thirds of the roughly 1,000 people found aboard, Ms. Lanuza said, calling the conditions “just like a slavery boat — the same.”

After the living were rescued, Astral crew members put the dead in body bags and stored them in life rafts.

Migration officials and rescue groups in Europe say the migrant route from North Africa remains the deadliest. Joel Millman, a spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, said at least 38 migrant bodies were recovered in Mediterranean rescues Monday and Tuesday, including those found by the Astral.

Mr. Messinis, 39, who has covered the conflicts in Libya and Syria, has been photographing the European migration crisis since it began three years ago. He has often put aside his camera to help rescuers.

What he witnessed on the Mediterranean, he said, was different. The analogy to slave ships that once plied the Atlantic, he said, was “exactly right — except that it’s not hundreds of years ago.”

"I’ve seen a lot of death, but not this thing,” he said. “This is shocking and this is what makes you feel you are not living in a civilized world.”

[Tracie Crespo]

www.eaglenews.ph/death-toll-in-migrant-ship-wreck-rises-to-202/

Death toll in migrant ship wreck rises to 202

September 28, 2016

Thirty-three more bodies are retrieved from a ship wreck off the coast of Egypt bringing up the total death toll of drowned migrants to 202. (Photo captured from Reuters video)

BURG RASHID, Egypt (Reuters) — Thirty-three bodies were recovered on Tuesday (September 27) as a wreck of a boat that sank off Egypt last week with hundreds of migrants aboard was lifted from the depths, raising the confirmed death toll to 202, a local official said.

The boat capsized off the Mediterranean coast on Sept. 21. Rescue workers and fishermen said they had rescued at least 169 people, but uncertainty remains over how many might still be missing.

“This is something only God knows. There indeed are still some people who have not found their children, who may have been sitting at the back of the boat and swept away by the current. Only God knows what happened to those who haven’t been found,” said local fisherman, Hamada Zamalout, who has been assisting in the rescue operations since the accident.

Regional governor Mohamed Sultan said the number of bodies recovered was “almost final” but rescue workers were still looking for human remains at sea.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday it believed at least 450 people were aboard the vessel and that about 300 perished in all.

Egyptian security sources initially said there had been almost 600 migrants aboard.

Officials said the boat was carrying Egyptian, Sudanese, Eritrean and Somali migrants, and that they believed it was heading for Italy. Four members of the crew were arrested.

More and more migrants have been trying to cross to Italy from the African coast over the summer months, particularly from Libya, where people-traffickers operate with relative impunity. But boats have increasingly departed from Egypt of late as Libya has slipped deeper into lawlessness.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Monday (September 26) that there is “no justification” for these deaths and called for “more secure” borders.

Fisherman Ahmed Fawzy says Egyptian officials need to pay more attention to those in need.

“(I ask) those in power, and the president himself, to pay more attention to the poor who are neglected, and who, because of the high costs of living, the lack of money and income, are willing to throw their lives away, and throw themselves in the sea. So all we want is for them to pay more attention to us and to take better care of the poor.”

The IOM says that more than 3,200 migrants have died while trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, while more than 300,000 have reached European shores. More than 1 million Middle Eastern, African and Asian migrants entered Europe in 2015.

The IOM said the number of migrants to arrive in Europe this year likely would not reach last year’s level, though the number of fatalities was virtually certain to exceed the 2015 total.

[KM]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3790359/Two-foreign-tourist...

Bali ferry carrying 40 passengers including British tourists explodes killing at least one woman and injuring 14 foreigners

• Boat carrying 35 passengers from Bali to Gili Islands exploded on Thursday
• A German woman has died and up to 20 foreigners on board were injured
• The boat's fuel tank reportedly blew up as it left Padang Bai Harbour 
• Photos on social media show bleeding passengers being carried away

At least one woman is dead and up to 20 foreigners are injured after a ferry exploded while travelling from East Bali to the Gili Islands on Thursday.

The Gili Cat 2 fast boat was taking 40 passengers to popular tourist destination and holiday island Gili Trawangan when the fuel tank blew up on board.

Although one passenger, a German woman, has been confirmed dead, a police spokesperson said two of those on board had died.

Graphic photographs circulating on social media show passengers being carried to the shore by locals, bleeding heavily and with limbs hanging off from the explosion.

Dazed passengers, many covered in cuts and bruises, were taken to medical centres on the Indonesian holiday island after the blast, with television footage showing them being carried on stretchers to ambulances and lying in hospital beds.

The 20 injured passengers aboard the speedboat were from Portugal, Germany, Austria and Britain. Early reports that Australians were on board the boat have not been verified. 

The boat exploded 600ft  from the shore of Padang Bai Harbour at 9.30am, and passengers reportedly 'suffered an electrical surge and burned in the waters.' 

'The explosion happened five minutes after the boat departed,' local police chief Sugeng Sudarso told AFP. 

'One female passenger died from head injuries.' 

According to local reports, the boat exploded near a headland at Padang Bai Harbour at 9.30am. Australian, German, British, Dutch and Korean citizens were said to be on board

The boat (pictured) exploded 200 metres from the shore of Padang Bai Harbour at 9.30am

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.10news.com/news/coast-guard-rescues-26-people-from-sinki...

Coast Guard rescues 26 people from sinking boat

City News Service

11:22 AM, Sep 3, 2016

SAN DIEGO - More than two dozen people on board a 63-foot sport-fishing boat were rescued in Mexican waters Saturday morning near the Coronado Islands southwest of San Diego, according to authorities.

The U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Diego Joint Harbor Operations Center heard the call for help at about 5 a.m. that the American-flagged vessel Invicta had crashed into rocks.

The Invicta was reported to be taking on water while it was anchored and the crew were deploying their life rafts, according to Coast Guard officials. Five crewmembers and 21 passengers were on board.

Coast Guard officials immediately began transmitting an urgent marine information broadcast and obtained permission from the Mexican government to enter Mexico's airspace and territorial waters for the rescue.

A Sector San Diego MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew was immediately launched and the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Sea Otter was diverted to assist the passengers and crew.

The crew of the 35-foot commercial fishing vessel Sweet Marie overheard the calls for help and diverted to assist the Invicta, the Coast Guard said.

Sweet Marie's crew arrived on scene and safely transported all

26 passengers and crewmembers aboard their vessel and began to make way toward San Diego.

The Sea Otter crew arrived and transferred them aboard the cutter, then safely transported them to the San Diego Harbor Police dock, on Shelter Island.

All passengers and crewmembers were wearing lifejackets.

There was one report of a back injury, but the passenger declined treatment.

The Invicta reportedly broke apart. The U.S. Coast Guard was investigating the incident.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.smh.com.au/world/ten-die-in-tourist-boat-capsize-in-indo...

• AUGUST 21 2016 - 8:41PM

Ten die in tourist boat capsize off Indonesia's Riau Islands

At least 10 people have died and five are missing after a boat sank while taking tourists from Tanjung Pinang to Penyengat Island in Indonesia's Riau Islands province.

The boat was transporting 17 passengers, including a boat operator and two children, when high waves and strong winds caused the boat to capsize in the waters off Penyengat Island, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Boats sail by in the port of Tanjung Pinang island. Photo: Reuters

"Joint search and rescue team have found 12 passengers, 10 of whom 

died and two were injured. The team is still searching for the remaining five passengers who are missing," Nugroho said.

He added after the boat capsized, some passengers swam to their rescue or were fished out of the water by nearby boats, while some of them who couldn't swim were swept away by the waves and died.

The National Search and Rescue Agency has deployed 200 personnel, 20 search and rescue boats and 50 wooden passenger boats to scour the waters for the missing passengers, as well as marines who are diving to find drowned passengers.

"The main obstacle now is the strong current," Nugroho said.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://arcticnorthwestpassage.blogspot.com/2016/08/disaster-averted...

AUG

15

Disaster averted as vessel carrying 23 passengers sinks in Ilulissa...

23 cruise passengers rescued after local boat sinks

Police in Greenland are investigating the cause of an accident on Sunday that resulted in the sinking of a boat carrying 23 cruise-ship passengers and three crew members.

Everyone on board the locally hired power boat was rescued by nearby local boats, as well as by inflatable boats belonging to their cruise ship, the L’Austral, which was located some 100 metres away.

“Everyone was saved and they are doing okay. All of the passengers are back on a ship,” Sebastian Bech, the acting police commissioner in Ilulissat, said.

The cause of the incident, which took place at about 1am on Sunday morning in Ilulissat Icefjord, Greenland’s most-visited tourist destination, remains unknown.

Investigators, however, say no other vessel was involved, and that the boat either struck something in the water or was struck.

The L’Austral is a French-flagged luxury ship launched in 2011 and operated by Compagnie du Ponant. It has a capacity of 264 passengers and 140 crewmembers.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/five-indian-fishermen-dead...

Five Indian fishermen dead, 20 missing in fishing boat capsize

• Updated: Aug 15, 2016 07:52 IST

Five Indian fishermen died and 20 were reported missing after their boats, which had drifted away into Bangladeshi waters during a cyclonic storm, capsized in the rough seas, officials said on Sunday.

According to the Indian Coast Guard, which is conducting search and rescue operations jointly with the Bangladesh Coast Guard, the fishing boat ‘Mahagauri’ with its 17 crew members had drifted across the international maritime boundary line (IMBL) and capsized.

South 24 Parganas district magistrate PB Salim told PTI that on the intervening night of August 7 and 8, about 200 trawlers from the district had ventured to the high seas and eight of them went missing in the cyclonic storm.

Six of them were later found to be safe.

One fisherman, Anup Das, was rescued by a Bangladeshi fishing boat and handed over to an Indian fishing boat near the IMBL.

Five bodies were found from near the capsized boat, which was found south of Heron Point in Bangladeshi waters, officials said.

The boat was towed to the nearest landing point, where it will be checked for any more bodies trapped inside.

Another fishing boat named Prosenjit is also feared to have capsized in the rough seas and is still missing. One of its crew members, Nirmal Jana, was rescued while 10 others are still untraceable.

Inspector general KR Nautiyal, Coast Guard Commander (north east) said, “Each life at sea is precious to us and our assets will comb the area for survivors”.

“A joint search and rescue mission is being undertaken by Indian Coast Guard and Bangladeshi Coast Guard within Bangladeshi waters. BNS Amin and BNS Sangu are the two Bangladeshi ships that have joined the operation. Indian coast guard ship Sarojini Naidu is in the area and is being joined by Coast Guard Ship Rajkiran shortly,” an Indian 

Coast Guard official said.

Joint aerial surveillance by Indian Coast Guard Dornier aircrafts and maritime patrol aircrafts of Bangladesh is in progress

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/article92071147.html

JULY 27, 2016 9:26 PM

Coast Guard: Problem in engine room led to flooding on boat

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA 

A problem in the engine room led to flooding on board a fishing boat off Alaska's Aleutian Islands, forcing the crew to abandon ship, the Coast Guard said Wednesday.

The 46 crew members of the stricken Alaska Juris were taken to the port in Adak, Alaska, arriving late Wednesday morning, Adak city manager Layton Lockett said. The crew members did not require medical attention, he said.

Adak is about 175 miles (282 kilometers) southeast of where the Alaska Juris ran into trouble.

The Coast Guard said the crew will be flown to Anchorage. A message from The Associated Press seeking interviews with the crew Wednesday at an Adak inn where they were taken was not immediately returned.

The agency had planned to conduct a flyover Wednesday to see if the 220-foot (67-meter) Alaska Juris was still afloat and determine if any pollution has spilled from the disabled vessel. The Coast Guard later said no flyover will occur Wednesday because of the unavailability of aircraft.

The Coast Guard is asking mariners in the area to share updates on the vessel, civilian spokesman Cory Cichoracki said.

Coast Guard Lt. Joseph Schlosser said it's not unusual for vessels to run into trouble at sea, given the "gigantic" size of Alaska, which has more coastline than the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards combined.

"I wouldn't say it's uncommon for a fishing vessel like this to become distressed," he said. "But the uncommon thing is that this luckily went very well for this crew."

The ship was listing at 5 percent when the crew members were disembarking Tuesday, Schlosser said, noting that was the last observation of the vessel. The incident is under investigation.

Conditions at the time were calm seas and limited visibility because of fog.

Coast Guard officials praised the response by the good Samaritan vessels. The Spar Canis and the Vienna Express heard the Coast Guard's emergency broadcast for help and rushed to the scene. Also responding were two other merchant vessels, the Seafisher and Ocean Peace, which transported the crew to Adak. The Coast Guard initially said the other two vessels were taking the crew.

"The good Samaritans' willingness to respond ... was paramount to getting the Alaska Juris crew to safety," said Lt. Greg Isbell, Coast Guard District 17 command duty officer.

Video footage showed one of the bright orange life rafts floating some distance from the stricken vessel, while another appeared tethered to it. The Coast Guard footage shot from an aircraft also showed a merchant ship in the distance.

On Tuesday, the agency diverted a cutter and dispatched two C-130 transport planes and two helicopters to the sinking ship near Kiska Island, which is about 690 miles (1,110 kilometers) west of Dutch Harbor, one of the nation's busiest fishing ports.

The Alaska Juris is owned by Renton, Washington-based Fishing Co. of Alaska, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. The company did not immediately respond to Associated Press for further information.

On Wednesday, recovery plans were underway by a salvage company, Resolve Marine Group. Project manager David Maruszak said the company is sending a 200-foot (61-meter) tug, the Resolve Pioneer, to the scene from Dutch Harbor. The tug is expected to arrive late Thursday or early Friday, he said.

It's not the first trouble the Alaska Juris has encountered in recent years.

In March 2012, a fisherman aboard the boat died after a cable snapped and struck him in the head. Days later, another fisherman was treated for a head injury after a cable snapped again and hit him.

In May 2012, the Alaska Juris requested help from the Coast Guard after three crew members were exposed to ammonia from a leak. The agency flew the trio to Cold Bay, Alaska.

Another vessel owned by the Fishing Co. of Alaska, the 189-foot Alaska Ranger, sank in March 2008 about 130 miles (209 kilometers) West of Dutch Harbor. Five of the boat's 47 crew members, including the captain, died. A Coast Guard investigation concluded in 2011 that the vessels owner failed to properly maintain its structural condition.