The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Safety concerns remain four years after collision
No laws to prevent repeat of incident that left woman seriously injured
No formal regulations preventing people from sitting on the inflatable tubes of leisure boats in the Forth have been put in place, four years after a woman suffered serious injuries when two vessels collided.
Marine accident investigators issued a number of recommendations following the incident on July 19 2016, when two rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) crashed into each other near the Isle of May.
A 45-year-old mother-of-two was crushed between the two dinghies and had to be put into an induced coma after suffering two broken collar bones, five broken ribs and a punctured lung.
The internal injuries she sustained also resulted in permanent damage to her sight in both eyes.
But while relevant codes of conduct governing recreational craft have been tweaked in the wake of the incident, The Courier understands there are no plans to specifically change byelaws in the Forth to prevent such an accident happening again.
Isle of May Boat Trips Ltd, which owns and operates Osprey and Osprey II, the two vessels involved in the 2016 accident, immediately took the step of banning passengers and crew from sitting on the inflatable tubes and has limited passenger numbers to 12 and eight respectively.
It has also issued an instruction that twin RIB operations are not to take place except in an emergency and has reviewed risk assessments.
However, there remains no hard and fast legislation under the current licensing scheme for boat operators, despite calls from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) to look into the issue, leaving guidance open to interpretation.
The MAIB recommended the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s recreational craft code should include the stipulation that the certified maximum number of passengers carried on commercially-operated passenger-carrying RIBs should be limited to the number of suitable seats designated for passengers.
“Safety is and always has been our number one priority and we take safety very seriously in undertaking our duties on the Forth. FORTH PORTS SPOKESPERSON
But it also hinted that port authorities should take the lead of the Port of London Authority in relation to the Thames, where the prohibition of sitting on inflatable tubes is banned via a specific byelaw.
The woman injured in the 2016 incident had been travelling with her family aboard Osprey II when it collided with Osprey between Anstruther harbour and the Isle of May.
The skipper of each RIB had increased speed and began a power turn away from each other with the intention of passing each other in the course of completing a round turn, the MAIB report found.
However, as the RIBs turned towards each other, it became apparent they were in danger of colliding and although both skippers acted quickly to reduce the speed of their respective vessels, they were unable to prevent the collision.
Four years on, a spokesperson from port authority Forth Ports said: “Safety is and always has been our number one priority and we take safety very seriously in undertaking our duties on the Forth.”