SAFETY ALERT: Reassess towing, salvage risks - Professional Mariner - Web Bulletin 2018

SAFETY ALERT: Reassess towing, salvage risks - Professional Mariner - Web Bulletin 2018

Customer accuses boat steering mechanism manufacturer of negligence

Customer accuses boat steering mechanism manufacturer of negligence: CLEARWATER — An Oklahoma man is suing the manufacturer of a boat steering mechanism, alleging product liability.

Liner Captain Is Questioned in Capsizing Off Italy Coast

Filippo Monteforte/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Rescuers found three people on Sunday on the Costa Concordia, which ran aground off the coast of Giglio, Italy. More Photos »

By GAIA PIANIGIANI and SARAH MASLIN NIR

Published: January 15, 2012

GIGLIO, Italy — The captain of the cruise ship that capsized aground near an Italian island, killing at least five people, may have caused the accident by taking the ship too close to the island’s rocky shore, the owner of the vessel said on Sunday, as rescue workers extracted three survivors and two bodies from the wreck.

NTSB Rips Coast Guard over Boy's Boating Accident Death

The National Transportation Safety Board has called out the U.S. Coast Guard for lax oversight leading up to the 2009 San Diego patrol boat crash that killed 8-year-old Anthony DeWeese. The federal board concluded that the Coast Guard boat pilot was going far too fast — as fast as 42 knots — for the crowded conditions on San Diego Bay that night, and no one was holding him in check. The NTSB discussed its findings at a meeting Tuesday morning in Washington, D.C. A summary written report was released later in the day, and the full report will be published in coming weeks, officials said.

Boat Operator Reckless in accident that Killed two Middleburg students

The boat operator involved in a Presidents Day accident that ended with the deaths of two Middleburg High School students, including his son, has been cited with reckless operation. Ted Hanner, 49, was operating the 1985 Baja bass boat on Black Creek near the Knight's Boat Ramp and Marina facility when he left the controls to pump the fuel bulb, a piece of equipment that helps get fuel to the motor, said Karen Parker, a spokeswoman from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. She said the boat was running kind of ragged and Hanner was trying to get more fuel to the motor. The boat veered to the north bank and crashed into a tree 3 feet off the water, according to commission at the time. Hanner's son, Travis Hanner, 17, and the teen's girlfriend Halee Mickey, 15, were sitting in the bow of the 18-foot, 4-inch boat at the time. The teens died at the scene from severe blunt force trauma, the commission reported at the time. Ted Hanner was treated at Shands Jacksonville hospital and later released. Alcohol was not a factor, and the boat was traveling about 20 mph, Parker said. Reckless operation of a boat is a first-degree misdemeanor. Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2011-06-10/story/boat-operator-reckless-february-accident-killed-2-middleburg-students#ixzz1PGQAgeUt

7 year old driving boat kills his mother in accident

The Virginia Marine Police will ask the Hampton commonwealth's attorney to determine whether any charges should be filed in a boating accident that killed a 35-year-old woman Sunday. The motorboat was being driven by the woman's 7-year-old son when it struck a pier and threw her into the windshield and then off the back of the boat. Elizabeth J. Elliott of Hampton was taken to Riverside Regional Medical Center, where she died. The five passengers on board were headed home on the Hampton River about 6:15 p.m. when an adult briefly let the 7-year-old steer, said John Bull, a marine police spokesman.

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed Over Gulf Oil Rig Explosion, Fire

HOUSTON, May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Attorneys with the Houston trial law firm Arnold & Itkin LLP today filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the family of Aaron Dale Burkeen, one of 11 men still missing after the recent oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. A resident of Philadelphia, Miss., Mr. Burkeen worked as a crane operator on the Deepwater Horizon, a massive oil rig owned by Swiss-based Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) and operated by UK-based BP PLC (NYSE: BP). On April 20, Mr. Burkeen was operating the crane on deck before the first explosion rocked the rig. His responsibilities included getting other crew members to safety. He is believed to have been tragically killed in the second blast. The family of Mr. Burkeen, including his wife and two children, are represented by Houston maritime attorneys Kurt Arnold and Jason Itkin of Arnold & Itkin, along with Mississippi attorney Jay M. Kilpatrick, a shareholder in Young Williams P.A. According to the attorneys, the Deepwater Horizon was unseaworthy, and the defendants were negligent in failing to properly maintain the rig and failing to meet federal safety standards.

Lawyers flock to Gulf Coast for oil spill lawsuits

MIAMI — Teams of lawyers from around the nation are mobilizing for a gargantuan legal battle over the massive Gulf Coast oil spill, filing multiple lawsuits in recent days that together could dwarf the half-billion dollars awarded in the Exxon Valdez disaster two decades ago. If the oil slick fouls popular beaches, ruins fisheries and disrupts traffic on the Mississippi River, attorneys say there could be hundreds of thousands of plaintiffs from Texas to Florida seeking monetary damages from oil producer BP PLC and other companies that ran the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. At least 26 federal lawsuits have been filed since the spill by commercial fishermen, charter boat captains, resort management companies and individual property owners in Louisiana, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. Many of the suits claim the disaster was caused when workers for oil services contractor Halliburton Inc. improperly capped a well — a process known as cementing. Halliburton denied that. Investigators are still looking into the cause.

Woman injured after boat accident at Disney

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- A woman was injured in a boating accident at Walt Disney World after her boat went under a Disney ferry. According to an Orange County Sheriff's report, 61-year-old Barbara Wormald was treated for a collapsed lung, fractured ribs and back pain after becoming wedged between the vessels. The report says Wormald and her husband rented a two seater boat Thursday near the Treehouse Villas. Ferry boat captain William Green said he saw the boat driving recklessly and put the ferry in reverse upon impact. Michael Wormald said he saw the ferry in the distance and thought it would move. As it approached, he turned quickly to avoid a crash, but the ferry ran onto the boat's passenger side and over his wife. Charges are pending against Wormald. Disney declined comment. Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/28/1602106/woman-injured-after-boat-accident.html#ixzz0mhPf5rV6

Girl nearly loses arm in boating accident / good recovery with help of doctors

Newswise — Kristen Kilpatrick could see the whirling propeller approaching after her fishing boat lurched forward, plunging her into the cold lake. “The motor creates this weird funneling and it just sucks you in. I just curled up into a little ball,” the Texas Christian University sophomore recalled. On a May 2009 weekend whim, she and friends had gone to the lake on her family’s ranch near Hico, located southwest of Stephenville. The engine was brutally unforgiving.

Driver of boat gives his account

Todd Spangler said he didn't whip an inner tube carrying two women into a dock at West Shores Lake. Spangler said the women — his wife, Kim, and their close friend, Jennifer Finke-Dwyer — “skipped across the water like a rock” and didn't hit the dock until 3 to 6 seconds after they had fallen off of the tube he pulled behind his boat.

Body of Tugboat Crewmember in Houston Ship Channel Accident Recovered

The body of the tugboat worker who had been missing since the vessel sank this week, has been found. The vessel, JR Nichols sank on Wednesday night. There were five workers on board and four were rescued from the water. The fifth crewmember had been missing for a few hours. The next morning, his body was recovered by salvage workers. The Coast Guard says it is continuing its investigation into the sinking of the tugboat. The vessel was operated by Kinder Morgan

3 families in fatal boat crash suing Coast Guard

Three Rancho Peñasquitos families involved in a Coast Guard boat crash that killed an 8-year-old boy in December sued the federal government yesterday for wrongful death and negligence, with hopes of making the service overhaul how it operates on San Diego Bay. Five days before Christmas, Anthony Cole DeWeese was on his family’s 24-foot Sea Ray with 12 others attending the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights when the pleasure craft was hit by a 33-foot Coast Guard vessel rushing to help a grounded boater.

Boat’s owner convicted in Fremont Canyon crash - Partying Ends Badly on Boat

CASPER — A jury on Thursday found a Casper man guilty of two counts of aggravated assault for his role in a boat accident last spring that left four people seriously injured. Seth Linaman, 31, was also found guilty of boating under the influence. The jury of seven men and five women needed roughly two hours to reach a verdict. Linaman, standing with his attorney, showed no emotion when the announcement was made. Deliberations began at roughly 3:45 p.m., following closing arguments by Assistant District Attorney Daniel Itzen and defense attorney Richard Jameison. Including Linaman, the boat’s owner, there were four people aboard the vessel when it struck a Fremont Canyon wall at Alcova Reservoir on May 16. Everyone aboard suffered severe injuries.

Coast Guard and tour boat collided in Charleston Harbor

Legal news for South Carolina personal injury attorneys. A small Coast Guard boat collided with a catamaran, injuring three people.Personal injury lawyers alert- A tour boat and a Coast Guard boat collision in Charleston Harbor injured three people. Charleston, SC—A small Coast Guard boat and a commercial catamaran collided in the Charleston Harbor, shortly after the annual Christmas Parade of Boats for unknown reason. The collision injured three people aboard the catamaran, which crashed around 8:30 p.m., as reported by The Post and Courier.