Investigation into an amputation incident onboard a Scottish-trawler identified safety shortcomings but commended the skipper’s immediate life saving actions. Photo courtesy: Ryan Cordiner
Investigation Findings And Incident Overview
An official preliminary assessment by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has concluded that safety failures, led to a life-changing injury on board the UK-registered stern trawler Reliance III, and commended the skipper’s immediate actions in saving the casualty’s life.
The incident occurred at around 0500 on 17 October 2025 while the vessel was trawling in the North Sea, approximately 46 nautical miles south-east of Sumburgh in the Shetland Islands. A crew member suffered the amputation of their right arm below the elbow after becoming trapped in an onboard ice generator.
According to the completed preliminary assessment summary, the crew member was alone on watch during fishing operations when they observed via closed-circuit television that the ice generator was not functioning normally. They left the wheelhouse and went to the ice machine room to investigate.
During the inspection, an inspection hatch cover was accidentally dropped into the ice generator’s rotating drum. As they reached into the drum, their arm became trapped in the rotating reamer and was severed after several revolutions lasting approximately four minutes.
Emergency Response And Recovery Efforts
After freeing themselves, the injured crew member isolated the electrical supply to the ice generator, contacted the skipper by mobile phone and activated the general alarm. The skipper administered first aid, improvising a tourniquet using towels, and contacted His Majesty’s Coastguard to request helicopter assistance.
A search and rescue helicopter was tasked within minutes, and a paramedic was winched onto the vessel shortly after 0600. In an attempt to recover the severed limb, the skipper restarted the ice generator to rotate the reamer, allowing the arm to be freed, packed in ice and transferred to the paramedic. The injured crew member was airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where surgeons were unable to reattach the limb.
The report commended the immediate actions of the skipper in administrating first aid to the casualty.
Findings
- The crew member left the wheelhouse unattended during trawling operations.
- The ice generator was not switched off either before the inspection hatch cover was removed or after the inspection hatch cover had fallen into the drum. The machine was not electrically isolated before attempting to retrieve the cover, which was found in the bottom of the drum post-accident.
- There were no interlocks on the inspection covers to stop the ice generator if a cover was removed while the machine was running.
- The crew member acted without informing other crew members of the maintenance/inspection activity.
- There was no signage around the ice generator to indicate it must be isolated before removing the inspection hatch covers. There was a faded yellow warning triangle marked ‘rotating machinery’ on top of the drum.
- The skipper demonstrated commendable initiative in applying a tourniquet and coordinating the casualty’s evacuation, but the retrieval of the severed arm involved restarting hazardous machinery and introduced further risk.
Actions taken
Reliance Fishing Company Limited has:
- fitted an emergency stop button on the top of the ice generator
- implemented lock-out/tag-out procedures for all machinery maintenance
- labelled the ice generator to warn that inspection hatch covers must not be removed while the machine is running
- reviewed and reinforced crew training on ice generator inspection and maintenance
- updated the vessel’s risk assessments and safe systems of work for all rotating equipment.
The MAIB preliminary assessment concludes by stating, “In light of the actions taken, the safety issues are considered sufficiently promulgated by this preliminary assessment summary and a full investigation will not be conducted.”
Apology to the Owner and the Crew of the “Reliance III”
I, as editor of The Fishing Daily, owe the Owner and the crew of the Reliance III my deepest apologies for an error in this recent news article.
Unfortunately, at the time of publication there was a section that should have been removed that was incorrect, and it was brought to my attention this morning that due to this error, I have caused the skipper and his crew great distress.
It was never my intention to cause anyone such anguish, and I again apologise.
The offending section which read that the MAIB assessment found that the “crew member acted without informing others of the inspection activity ……..”, and in relation to warning signage,” has been removed from the news article.
