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Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority (NSIA) will investigate a fatal man overboard incident on the snow crabber Hunter in the Barents Sea. Photo: Vela Seafood
The Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority (NSIA) will investigate a fatal incident on a fishing vessel in the Barents Sea on Monday 30 January last.
The fisherman, originally from Latvia and in his 30s, died after falling overboard from the fishing vessel ‘Hunter’ which is affiliated with the fishing company Havøy Kystfiske. The incident took place at around 18.10 local time in stormy conditions as the fishing vessel was shooting pots for snow crab.
The Coastguard was immediately contacted and a search and rescue operation was started but the mission was changed to a search and recovery after it was believed the fisherman was dragged overboard by a launched pot and was presumed dead. The pot was hauled, but the missing man was not found.
The Hunter was fishing snow crab in an area of the east Barents Sea known by the fleet as good crabbing ground when the accident happened. After searches in the area were exhausted yesterday, Wednesday 01 February, it was confirmed by police the Hunter was on its way back to Tromso harbour in northern Norway.
The incident onboard the Hunter brings the number of drowning accidents in Norway during January this year to four, all of whom were men. The other three incidents were:
- A young man in his late teens was found dead in the sea after being reported missing after a party on Averøy in Møre og Romsdal.
- A man in his 60s fell into the sea when he was about to board a fast boat in Abelvær in Trøndelag.
- In Agder, a man in his 40s died in a diving accident outside Arendal.
Hunter was built in Norway in 1989 and is 45 metres long. The vessel has accommodation for 23 crew members and has a gross tonnage of 840. The vessel can produce both cooked frozen and raw frozen.
According to Marine Traffic, the vessel fished as a trawler in the UK between 2010 and 2013 as UNITY (FR165).
