Man Overboard From Tanker Near Felixstowe

At 1000 this morning U.K.  Thames Coastguard received a call from the agents of a tanker, the ‘Baltic Sky 1′ reporting that they had a missing crew member that they suspected may have fallen overboard.

The ‘Baltic Sky 1′, a 23235 gross tonne combined chemical and oil tanker was at anchor eight miles off Felixstowe when they reported that the engineer had not been seen since 03.30 that morning. They began a re-search of the vessel, and in the meantime Thames Coastguard formulated a search plan and requested the assistance of RAF helicopter R125 from Wattisham in initiating the search. All Weather Lifeboats from Aldeburgh, Walton and Harwich were also launched.

The Echo November spotter plane which is usually involved in Counter Pollution monitoring was also utilized to assist in a search due to its electronic search equipment.

At 1100 the rescue helicopter located the casualty just a mile from the search start position. The man, a 49 year old Latvian national, was airlifted to Ipswich Hospital where he was pronounced deceased at 1126.

Dave Mantripp, Acting Watch Manager, Thames Coastguard said:

“Thames Coastguard coordinated an incident this morning involving a Latvian national who had fallen overboard from a tanker anchored off Felixstowe. The rescue helicopter located the casualty within seven minutes of beginning his search, which is a credit to both the crew and the effectiveness and appropriation of the search planning. Sadly, the crew member was later pronounced deceased at Ipswich hospital.”

Source: Maritime and Coastguard Agency

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