Brain- dead crewman had no safety training
MAIB slams owner
A fisherman who was left with “life changing injuries” after being hit by a metal pole was not wearing a helmet, an official report has found.
Deckhand Aurelian Dinu, 30, was working on the Sea Harvester twin rig prawn trawler near Ailsa Craig when the accident happened on August 3 last year.
A report from the Marine Accident Investigation Bureau ( MAIB) found Aurelian was standing in an unsafe position and without head protection when a pole broke free when he was helping to free the boat’s nets after they caught on what was presumed to be a wreck.
When the ship lost speed at around 4.41pm, Dinu joined four other deckhands to try to free the nets.
After working to get the ship moving again, at around 5.10pm the centreline guide- pole became bent under tension before it was pulled from its socket – and struck Dinu on the side of his head, sending him crashing to the deck.
The pole was lost overboard after hitting the deckhand.
A lifeboat from Campbeltown and a rescue helicopter scrambled to the scene to rescue the fisherman, where he was taken to Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University hospital at 7.37pm.
The pole was so heavy that Dinu suffered a number of injuries, and was left “totally dependent on care and unable to follow commands”.
The report also noted that the Romanian national had not been given safety training.
The MAIB also concluded that: “Non- compliance with a number of regulatory requirements had the potential to compromise the safety of the vessel and its crew.
“The underwater obstruction was possibly the wreck of the fishing vessel Karen, and the wreck’s position shown on Admiralty charts might be inaccurate.”