Lowlands Grace - October 2004

The stern of the port lifeboat detached from the hook arrangement and the port lifeboat later plunged into the sea during a lifeboat launching operation. Two seamen died in the incident. The fatal incident took place in good weather conditions. The vessel was riding at the anchorage of Port Hedland, Australia

The complete aft hook assembly and fixing plates of the lifeboat were found missing during the inspection after the incident. An object appearing to be the hook unit was seen falling out of the lifeboat at the instant when the port lifeboat was detached from the aft suspension block.
The reason why the lower end of the fixing plates were sheared off is not exactly known

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Lowlands Grace - October 2004

 

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Lowlands Grace - MarDep HongKong