Boat collision on Sydney Harbour

[skuthorp]

at 3am this morning. 5 dead, 9 injured after a fishing boat sliced the stern off what seems to have been a party boat with 14 young people on board.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/080430/21/16oil.html

["Police say five people are dead and nine are injured after two private boats collided off Bradleys Head on the north side of Sydney Harbour early this morning.
The vessels collided just before 3:00am (AEST).
All of those hurt and killed were on the smaller boat, which appeared to have had its stern sliced off. People say people in passing boats helped get some of the people to shore and called 000.
Search boats and helicopters located the other passengers and plucked them from the water within an hour.
Both boats have been towed to water police headquarters at Balmain where police will continue their investigations.
They are yet to interview any of the crash victims, who are now being treated at Royal North Shore hospital.
Pat McDermot from the Royal North Shore Hospital said eight of the injured people were young men and one was a young woman.
The ages range from 18 to 31, the youngest person is the young women," she said.
"We have six people in the emergency department who ... I think are going to be fine, but we have three that are in resuscitation, who are critically ill."
Searchers say all people involved have now been accounted for after an air and sea search.
Water police are now working to secure the crash scene and begin investigations into the cause of the incident. Witnesses are being urged to come forward.
Police Acting Inspector Tony Bear said: "To the best of our knowledge all persons were plucked from the harbour in a very short period of time after the accident."]

All from smaller vessel.

[The Bigfella]

Horrible.

There's some footage of the small boat on this video

http://optuszoo.news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=455497&rss=yes&_cobr=optus

Looks a bit small to have 14 people on it.

The trawler did not stop ... "may not even have been aware of it"

[BrianW]

The small boat has 'Sydney Ship Repair & Eng...' written along it's side. Just a bit of irony.

[carioca1232001]

A senseless loss of life !

Isn´t this the second deadly accident that has occurred in Sydney harbour in the last 12-18 months ?

I recall a young fellow at the helm of a high-powered motor boat smashing into a smaller boat...

[The Bigfella]

Isn´t this the second deadly accident that has occurred in Sydney harbour in the last 12-18 months ?

I recall a young fellow at the helm of a high-powered motor boat smashing into a smaller boat...

There have been two fatal accidents with ferries, the first killed a fisherman anchored in a small dinghy, the second involved a cabin cruiser and I think four people were killed. IIRC, the inquiry found that the cabin crusier had no nav lights on.

Looking at coverage on the TV of the incident that happened last night, it looks like the trawler is associated with a guy I know, although I think he has sold out of that business now. It looks like a very fast boat - and the fatalities seem to be crash victims rather than drowning. Four young women and one young guy are dead - all around the 18-20 age range.

I really can't believe that the small boat had 14 people on it. I'd say, based on the TV footage that they were over the load limit.

[skuthorp]

Latest news say one of the boats was stolen, obviously the small one but not confirmed yet. 4 young women and one man killed. What a waste!

[carioca1232001]

Bigfella, the motor cruiser was a woodie that was hit by a steel-hulled ferry, right ?

I also recall the accident with the young fellow at the helm - may not have occurred in Sydney, though - as the discussion then veered off into how easy (or difficult) it is to obtain a license for piloting a pleasure boat in different countries.

Fourteen people on that small boat - must have been over the legal limit.

[The Bigfella]

Yes - the one last year was a wooden cruiser.

The incident that occurred at 2:40am this morning - the small boat was surveyed for eight people - so was overloaded by six. There are claims that the owner of the boat did not know that it was out on the harbour.

[crawdaddyjim50]

Sadness beyond belief. wow :(

IF it proves out that the boat was stolen someone should go off to stir for a very long time. In a cell that is wallpapered with the pictures of those killed.

[carioca1232001]

All I can say is that in Brazil - and unless one can prove that one´s boat was stolen - the owner of the vessel is solely responsible for whatever occurs on the boat.

[PeterSibley]

:(:(:(

[skuthorp]

The owner of the business says carefully "The boat had no official businee to be on the harbour at night. Obviously someone decided to take it for a joy ride". The police say "The boat was not stolen". This could take a while to sort out I reckon. Two of the survivors critical.

[Lion]

Very sad news, whatever the blame attribution. Young lives cut down with a shocking suddeness. Very sad.

Lion

[JimJ]

"The boat had no official businee to be on the harbour at night. Obviously someone decided to take it for a joy ride".

"The boat was not stolen".

If the owner did not give permission for the use of the boat, this will end up being a feeding frenzy with the lawyers.

[The Bigfella]

Latest buzz is that there were some Americans among the dead/ injured - American Consulate is refusing to comment.

[The Bigfella]

Now confirmed - one American (believed killed). Two workers from the Commercial Hotel in Balmain involved one male and one female (believed killed). It is believed that someone associated with (believed to be a relative) of the business owners took the boat. Possibly involves the Doyle seafood family.

The worst injured guy is unlikely to survive.

They were warned by fishermen on the wharf that they were grossly overloaded, but they laughed it off. 14 people on a 22' dive boat

[Ian McColgin]

I can't raise the video to see but overloaded or use without permission do not play in the COLREGs. Any description of the collision and what's this about the trawler "not aware"? Did she not even stop?

[The Bigfella]

Ian, there's relatively little damage to either vessel - it looks like they hit almost head-on. Given the over-crowding on the small vessel, I'd say that they were smacked by the trawler. The guy on life support has severe blunt force trauma, for instance.

Here's another video

http://media.smh.com.au/?rid=37589

I find it hard to believe that the trawler wouldn't have noticed the impact - and she did not stop (the Police pulled her over a few miles further down the Harbour). It could well have been 40 knots closing speed - but was clearly a glancing blow. There is about 3' of gunwhale missing from the fiberglass trawler and a bit of damage to the alloy dive boat.

Eyewitness account (not of the crash, but of the departure). I saw this guy on the news earlier. He said his mate's words were "these guys are going to be front page news tomorrow"

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/sydney-harbour-death-crash-witness-they-were-in-a-great-moodthey-wanted-to-have-a-party/2008/05/01/1209235035713.html

[WX]

A stupid act by the sound of it and a stupid waste of life.

[Tom Hunter]

Terrible

Death toll is now six. Speculating, but I think the passengers on the smaller vessel were sitting around the outside of the boat, otherwise it is hard to imagine how they would all fit. When the collision happened they would be the first thing hit.

The police are saying that the fishing vessel reported the accident immediately.

What a nightmare

[py]

And already the calls for tougher licence requirements have started. As if that would prevent a joyrider doing something stupid. And presumably the trawler skipper has more than a rec license. That doesn't seem to have helped either. But no doubt the bureaucrats will have their way. There's probably a number of contributing issues. The media will focus on the overloading issue. But I'd suggest that in itself was totally irrelevant on what was a glassy smooth, clear night. The reality is that its bloody hard to pick out nav lights against a very busy city backdrop.
Sad news, whatever the causes.

[The Bigfella]

Most of my boating is now done on the river, rather than the Harbour. I've seen some fairly silly things at night on the Harbour though - plenty of boats without nav lights and even one, a ski boat, with reversed nav lights - yep, green on port.

I was on the river today for about five hours and probably 50% of the boats that went past me were doing a multiple of the speed limit - one doing at least 30 knots in a 4 knot zone. NSW Maritime would say they patrol the area, but they do not control the miscreants. It would not be hard to do.

The worst of the media was on display last night. I couldn't believe it when I heard Ian Ross ask the Premier if he accepted responsibility for the accident. What a goose. Two vessels collided and he wants to blame the ruddy Premier?

[rufustr]

From "The Australian"

John Lyons | May 02, 2008
IT was 11.30pm on Wednesday and Balmain's Commercial Hotel, in Sydney's inner-west, had just half-an-hour left under its current ownership before it closed. About a dozen people stood on the footpath drinking and smoking.
One of them was a young woman in her early 20s, whom locals described as "bright and bubbly" and still hoping to hear back about a job she wanted with Qantas. A little over three hours later, she would be dead, along with four of her fellow revellers in the worst peacetime accident on Sydney Harbour in more than 80 years. Another would be mortally wounded, dying in hospital last night.
It had been a scene like in any suburban hotel. In the front bar were the "oldies" - 40 and over - and in the back bar "the younger ones".
The younger customers played pool, while some of the older drinkers wandered through to play songs from the juke box.
About five minutes to midnight, staff told people it was time to close. It seemed an anti-climax because the pub had been sold and it was the last night the staff would work together.
By five past midnight, the front bar was empty.
But what the oldies had not known was that one of the drinkers, named last night at Matthew Reynolds, had apparently been telling a few of the younger patrons in the back bar that he had access to a boat and was inviting them for a cruise, apparently to drop pub manager Gene Robson home at Watson's Bay near the harbour's South Head.
It sounded like a good idea. Reyholds and Robson went to get the boat and arranged to meet the others at the Balmain East wharf - about 300m along Darling Street, Balmain's main thoroughfare, from the pub - an hour later. Someone grabbed a case of Coopers beer, and 12 people ranging in ages from 19 to 31 walked to the end of the road.
It was a calm night, perfect for sailing or fishing. A westerly breeze came in, which, at 7km/h, could barely be felt. And at 13C it was milder than many recent Sydney nights.
About 10 fishermen, including Andre Ogle, sat on the wharf. They watched as the blue 7m half-cabin runabout approached the wharf. The ex-navy dive boat's normal business was to assist other boats that broke down or needed repairs. It had lights, but most days was moored by 4pm in Balmain. It was used at night-time only in emergencies if clients of the service broke down and needed help.
The owners of the boat, Sydney Ship Repair and Engineering on nearby Goat Island, kept a key on board, carefully hidden. It is not known how Reynolds got the key.
But Ship Repair said last night one of the people on board the boat was a former contractor of the company who was related to an employee.
Reynolds also explained to those on the wharf that he had recently been doing contract work at Goat Island and hoped to head back to Tweed Heads on the NSW-Queensland border.
As he pulled in, he apologised to the fishermen for almost cutting their fishing lines.
They were surprised when 12 others arrived to board a boat designed for eight and already carrying Reynolds and Robson.
Ogle says he gave a warning to Matt along the lines: "That's too many people for that boat. How's that boat going to stay up in the water?" But those on the boat were in high spirits and someone had responded: "We'll be right."
"They took their beer and their good mood and hopped on the boat and headed off down towards the Harbour Bridge," he says.
About 1.30am yesterday, the boat headed off. Whether it made it to Watson's Bay is unclear but about an hour later it was at Bradleys Head, near Taronga Zoo on Sydney's north shore.
The spot is regarded as dangerous by those familiar with Sydney Harbour. The danger comes from the blind spot - boats coming from one direction cannot see others until very late.
Even worse, they were effectively in a shipping lane.
A 12.5m fishing trawler owned by Peter Evans and with two crew on board was heading out from the Sydney Fish Market in Pyrmont, east along the harbour on its way to the heads and out to sea in search of blue-eye cod.
The trawler, called Jordon's, came around the blind turn and had little chance of seeing the runabout. About 2.31am, Jordan's smashed into the small boat, hitting its port-side stern and throwing many of the runabout's occupants into the water.
The crew of Jordon's called 000 at 2.33am and two fishermen in a tiny dingy, later hailed as heroes, immediately begin pulling the victims from the water.
At 2.50am the first ambulance arrived and within 10 minutes about 50 rescue officers were on the scene - 10 ambulance crews, one ambulance helicopter and one police helicopter.
All the injured were assembled and triaged at Taronga Zoo's Athol Wharf before being taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital at nearby St Leonards.
The hospital, alerted that several people needing urgent attention would be arriving shortly, went into emergency mode to treat the nine survivors.
Procedures seemed to work well, with the emergency registrar, Andrew Rochford, later saying everything had gone "exceptionally smoothly". "These are situations we train for," he said.
Of the nine survivors, all were conscious except one. Some had spinal or bone injuries. A 30-year-old man, Alex Nikakis, was unconscious with head, chest and spinal injuries. He was rushed straight into an operating theatre for surgery but died last night, surrounded by family.
Even though it was the Commercial Hotel's last night under its owner, the mood, according to one drinker, had been more muted than he expected.
Another drinker, Paul "Benny" Briscoe, agreed. "Because a lot of them had lost their jobs they weren't partying too hard," said Briscoe, who works as a sub-editor at The Australian. "It was a pretty quiet night."

[The Bigfella]

If you can believe the media, there are some smelly things about this whole event.

We know that the trawler that was involved in the collision did not stop, but it did call the emergency number and report the collision. If the reports of the accident are correct, I'd be asking was it on the wrong side of the channel - cutting the corner?

The two amateur fishermen who heard but did not see the collision immediately went to the aid of those on the stricken vessel. They said they called for two more passing trawlers to help, but they did not stop.

[AussieBarney]

I would be asking for tests to be done on the skipper for alcohol and drugs. they left a pub after midnight! I would assume that they were at least half in the bag at that stage. If the skipper was drunk ,he is at fault. The rules are simple: Dont drink and drive. What part of that statement is hard to understand? The guiding rule should be as it is for airplane pilots: twelve hours bottle to throttle. Barney

[sandingblock]

Exactly, people are focusing on overloading and other things. It's misadventure. How easy is it to assign blame to young people in this situation?

P.S regarding some photos of the damage: how tough are aluminum boats?

[Metronicity]

This from my mate who's an owner/skipper of a 90 ft charter boat on Sydney Harbour:
"It looks like the fishing boat wasn't keeping a proper lookout. (Rule 6 of the Coll Regs). He was also on the wrong side of the channel and failed to give way and pass port to port. I would bet anything the boat was on autopilot and he was setting his gear up or something. Pretty typical unfortunately.
On the other hand if the workboat wasn't overloaded at least some of the passengers might have been able to move out of the way.
It looks like neither of them were navigating at a safe speed according to the conditions too.
I'm always careful at Bradley's because if you are going West it's hard to see another boat coming with the city lights behind and its common for boats going east to cut the corner. I've had a few surprises there myself."

[The Bigfella]

I seem to recall that there was a major collision there 100 or so years back - two ships, at least one of which went down - a coastal coal carrier I think.

[Penokee]

If the small boat was overloaded to the point where people were sitting/standing around on the outside of the cabin, I wonder if some of them might have been obscuring its nav. lights? (assuming they were on).

[crawdaddyjim50]

Good on them fellas in the dingy!

I think this is going to be big news for awhile. I could maybe understand cutting the corner during daylight and with extra watch but it should still get your ticket blackmarked or pulled for a bit.

At night is just stupid. And knowing he ran down a boat and not stop! That should get your ticket pulled.

But them people would be alive today if Reynolds had thought better of "borrowing" a boat. Especially after he had been drinking.

Still a sad situation all around.

Thanks for the updates.

[The Bigfella]

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. The first of the six funerals was held yesterday. Police have not yet interviewed the supposed driver of the smaller boat - and now the lawyers are making statements:


Sydney Harbour boat crash survivor Matthew Reynolds was not driving the runabout involved in last week's collision that killed six people, his father has said.

Charlie Reynolds told News Limited that one of the other survivors had been at the wheel when the seven metre vessel with 14 people onboard and a lobster boat collided around 2.45am (AEST) last Thursday.

"I'm told Matthew wasn't driving the work boat on that tragic night," Mr Reynolds said.

"He was still vigilant, and related to me how they had been travelling as far over in the channel as was safe at a steady pace, and he had pointed out a four metre tinnie with a small white light."

"The questions remain, where was, and why didn't they see, a 14m fishing boat that should have been ablaze with lights when they could see a four metre tinnie."

Matthew Reynolds remains in Royal North Shore Hospital, where police spoke to him for the first time on Tuesday but he was not well enough to be formally interviewed.

It is understood witnesses and survivors have also told police Matthew was not driving, News Limited reported.

His solicitor Greg Walsh said Matthew was speaking to his girlfriend Ashlei Ayres, a 32-year-old mother of two, when the boats collided.

Ms Ayres was one of the six who died in the accident.

He also said Matthew had permission to use the runabout and it was not stolen as earlier claimed.



http://optuszoo.news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=456376&rss=yes&_cobr=optus