Tug that rammed another left unattended at full speed: safety board
RICHMOND, B.C. — The Transportation Safety Board says a six-to-eight-second absence from the controls of a tug boat caused the sinking of another tug off the east coast of Vancouver Island.
A safety board report says the captain of the C.T. Titan left the tug going while he moved from the upper bridge to the wheelhouse and by the time he reached the controls, the boat had veered towards the vessel Albern.
The Titan’s master attempted to transfer propulsion control to the wheelhouse, but the report says he couldn’t do so in time and the 15-metre tug rammed the much smaller vessel in May 2016.
The nine-metre Albern capsized and sank in the waters near Nanaimo, temporarily trapping its two crew members under the water until they could escape and swim to the surface.