Coroner’s warning after deckhand dies in plunge from £65m stars’ yacht
SUPERYACHT owners will be warned to stop overworking junior crewmen after a British deckhand fell to his death on his maiden cruise.
Michael Hanlon, 22, was only weeks into his role aboard Faith, a £65million yacht, when his dream job ended in tragedy, an inquest heard.
After being locked out while the boat was docked in Antibes, the exhausted crewman is thought to have fallen as he climbed on board.
The vessel, owned by Canadian fashion mogul Lawrence Stroll, had stopped in the Cote d’Azur resort to pick up Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones.
Mr Hanlon’s death has left a coroner so concerned about working conditions on superyachts – a popular temporary job for British graduates – he plans to write warning letters to their owners. It comes
‘Lessons to be learned’
weeks after a young British crewman was left in a coma after a fall from a yacht off Majorca.
The coroner’s warning could affect some of the world’s richest people, including Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, the owner of Chelsea FC, who has one of the world’s largest boats – the 533ft Eclipse, valued at £740million.
The boat on which Mr Hanlon worked was set to host stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Robert Pattinson and Celine Dion. Mr Hanlon’s family yesterday said he was ‘let down’ by the yacht’s owners and would still be alive if he had not been overworked.
They accused French authorities and the boat company of misleading them over exactly how the deckhand died. Following the fall in 2013, his body was found under the vessel, with head and wrist injuries and broken ribs.
Mr Hanlon, from Windermere, Cumbria, had been out drinking with friends but found himself unable to gain entry to the boat on his return. His family believe he climbed the side of the vessel in a desperate attempt to get onboard.
But the owners and French authorities insisted he fell asleep on a sun-deck before plunging off the boat’s third tier. The inquest on Wednesday heard that on the day before he died, Mr Hanlon slept for only one hour following a night shift, before another nine-hour stint. Mrs Hanlon said her son had complained of exhaustion, with shift patterns changed three times in the previous week.
She added: ‘I understand why that happens, but surely not at the expense of the safety of the crew.’ Recording an accident verdict, assistant coroner Alan Sharpe disagreed with the French authorities’ claim that Mr Hanlon’s judgment had been affected by alcohol. Mr Sharpe said he would write a ‘Rule 28’ letter, designed to prevent similar deaths, to the boat’s owners and other maritime organisations.
He added: ‘It is likely that tiredness did contribute … There are many other matters which would have meant Michael was still alive today – if he had a key, if there was a night watchman, if he had returned with another member of the crew.’ After the inquest, Mr Hanlon’s sister Claire Duxbury said: ‘It’s obvious there are lessons to be learned … The marine industry has such resources at its disposal that it should not have to compromise the safety of its crew.
‘Michael … took the responsibility of his new role seriously … We believe he was let down by his superiors who did not appear to follow regulations and did not put crew welfare and safety as a priority. If he had not been overworked … he would still be here today.’