Person overboard from passenger ferry Snowdrop resulting in recovery of a young child from the water

Location: Seacombe ferry terminal, River Mersey, England.

From:
Marine Accident Investigation Branch
Published
23 January 2015
Vessel type:
Merchant vessel 100 gross tons or over
Report type:
Investigation report
Date of occurrence:
14 October 2013

Accident Investigation Report 22/2014

Investigation report into marine accident including what happened and safety lessons:

Snowdrop.pdf (4,246.23 kb)

Snowdrop

Summary

On 14 October 2013 a young child fell overboard and was recovered from the passenger ferry Snowdrop at Seacombe ferry terminal, River Mersey, England.

Safety lessons

  • a 3 year old child was rescued from the River Mersey by the ship’s mate after she fell over the upper deck guardrail of the ferry Snowdrop

  • the location and design of the upper deck seating enabled the child to climb to the top of the guardrail

  • the adults responsible for the child, allowed her to stand on the seating and were distracted prior to the accident occurring

  • measures in place to prevent passengers from standing on the seating proved ineffective

  • procedures to inform the Coastguard were not followed

Recommendations

As a result of the actions taken by Merseytravel and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in response to this accident, no recommendations have been made.

Published: 28 August 2014

Published 23 January 2015

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