CalMac staff commended
A CalMac steward who helped a passenger whose husband jumped overboard, has been highly commended at a National Transport Awards ceremony in London.
Lynne Cornelius was on duty on the MV Isle Of Mull on May 3 this year when the drama unfurled.
‘One of our crew, Lynne Cornelius, showed an overwhelming level of bravery and kindness during the incident, working to comfort and help the passenger who had just witnessed her husband jumping overboard. This is one of the most extreme cases of crisis management we can experience in the maritime industry. Lynne stayed with the casualty’s wife while the vessel scrambled our fast rescue crafts and entered into a rescue operation with the MV Clansman.
‘Within 21 minutes he had been rescued. Throughout this time, Lynne was a rock for this passenger in the most extreme of all stress. We are all extremely proud of her,’ said a CalMac spokesperson.
Lynne’s bosses were so impressed by her that they nominated her for the National Transport Award’s Frontline Employee Award.
After the rescue, CalMac received this message of thanks: ‘To the captain and crew of the MV Clansman, I would like to thank you very much for your swift response and professionalism last Thursday when you saved the life of my brother-in-law who jumped overboard. Without a doubt you saved his life.’
The casualty spent 18 minutes in the water, enough to make him hypothermic, but short enough to save his life, said the CalMac spokesperson, who added: ‘This experience underlines the importance of kindness in the face of pain, and dialogue to make the unseen challenges many face day-to-day, more visible. We wish both passengers well as they continue their recovery from their experiences and we thank all the crew and services involved, particularly Lynne Cornelius for her kindness and bravery.’
CalMac employee Helen Mann was also commended for the Frontline Employee Award for her role in helping
get Colonsay re-connected during a 46-hour power cut.
On the day it happened, Helen was off-duty but helped to distribute hot food and drinks to fellow islanders at a cafe with a back-up generator. A team of power company employees had been airlifted onto the island to find the fault and during a conversation with Helen mentioned an emergency vessel was being sent to the island with a relief generator.
‘She was concerned the ship wouldn’t know the port team weren’t able to pick up communications and wouldn’t know they were coming. If it arrived at port unscheduled, there was a risk no-one would be there to tie it up. So she took it upon herself to take the short drive from her home to the port every half hour from 4am that morning to check whether or not a vessel was coming across to the island. She made this journey several times until she got access to a satellite phone via the local GP before finding out what time the boat was due and make all the normal arrangements to receive it,’ said a CalMac spokesperson.
Two hours after the ship docked, the power was back on.