Accidents on water transport: causes and procedures

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Our country is rich in water resources, it has many rivers and lakes. Russia has the world's largest network of inland waterways. Also, our country, having access to the seas, can rightfully be called a maritime power. The length of Russian maritime borders is about forty thousand kilometers.

This means that the country has a developed water transport system, during the operation of which various emergency situations can occur, leading to accidents in water transport. What can lead to them? How to avoid emergencies, how to act if they have already happened, we will tell in this article.

Water transport. Meaning

Water transport helps to transport passengers or goods along natural waterways (ocean, sea, lake, river), as well as waterways artificially created by man (canals and reservoirs). Transportation is carried out by water with the help of transport, which has the common name "vessel". Vessels can be designed to carry passengers, carry goods, and also havespecial purpose (for research, rescue, fire, etc.).

Depending on the area for which the water vessel was built, they are divided into river and sea. Sea vessels are usually larger than river vessels. When building sea vessels, more intense sea waves, displacement, etc. are taken into account.

The importance of water transport is very high. The high carrying capacity, which makes it possible to transport bulky cargo, creates a low cost of transporting goods by water. More than 60% of all types of transportation are accounted for by sea transportation of goods in the world. Also, water transport in some cases is the only possible way to communicate with some areas.

The speed of water passenger transport is low compared to air or land transport, so it is rarely used for business travel. For tourists and vacationers, water transport is very attractive and in demand.

Classification of ships

It is customary to classify ships according to different criteria. These are their purpose, navigation area, type of engine and other characteristics. Let us consider the classification of sea vessels only according to their purpose, that is, according to the type of service performed. Transport ships, for example, are classified into:

1. Passenger - cruise, scheduled, local. Water passenger transport includes liners, yachts, steamships, motor ships, ferries, boats, boats, etc.
2. Dry cargo - general purpose for the transportation of packaged goods; specialized vessels (timber carriers, refrigerated vessels, packet carriers, bulk carriers, ro-ro carriers, container carriers, lighter carriers; multi-purpose, reloading in various ways (dock and crane); universal - transport various cargoes, including dangerous; ships of dual transport specialization, carry out the transportation of mass cargo of two different categories (oil and cotton carriers), as well as ferries carrying passenger vehicles, tankers - tankers, chemical carriers, wine carriers, gas carriers.

There are also service and support vessels - these are icebreakers, tugboats, crew and pilot boats. The technical fleet is represented by excavators, dredging shells, dredging scows, and dredgers. This category also includes special purpose ships - expeditionary, training, hydrographic, rescue, fire, floating lighthouses and cranes. Fishing vessels are trawlers, mother ships, seiners, crab fishermen, tuna fishermen, etc. There are also ships of the navy. The name "ship" can only be a military vessel, which includes submarines, large military ships, destroyers, cruisers, aircraft carriers, etc.

Ship safety equipment

All modern ships (regardless of their purpose) are equipped with radio communications and satellite navigation. Each vessel at sea is subject to dispatch control and radio communication is maintained. Passenger ships always have life-saving equipment for emergencies. It is important to use them on time and correctly. These are inflatable boats, rafts, life suits and vests. A lot is being done for safety. Seats on life rafts and lifeboats are provided for all passengers and crew members.

There are also internationally accepted international maritime distress signals issued by ships in distress to call for help and attention. If such a signal is received by the captain of a nearby vessel, he is obliged to do everything to help people in danger.

Main causes of accidents

Despite the above security measures, in our time several dozen ships and hundreds of people die every year. The main causes of accidents in water transport are:

• impact on the ship of natural forces (storm, sudden rise or fall in the water level, strong squally wind, ice jams, reefs, underwater rocks, dam and lock breaks, a sharp acceleration of the current and other unforeseen circumstances of natural disasters);
• the result of incorrect actions of the crew (failure to comply with the requirements for the safety of navigation and violation of labor discipline, unsuccessful maneuvers in the management of the ship that led to a collision, incorrect assessment of data from electrical and radio navigation devices, technical malfunctions of devices and mechanisms of the ship, design flaws nature, errors in the design of the vessel, ignoring the requirements of the shipowner and shore workerssafety of navigation, etc.);
• unforeseen circumstances (fires or explosions, terrorist act, etc.).

A ship in distress may be on the surface of the water, run ashore, run aground or sink.

Protective measures

There are certain rules that ensure the safety of passengers on sea and river vessels that everyone who is going to board a ship needs to know and even learn. First of all, any passenger should be familiarized with the “Alarm Schedule”. It describes all the actions of officers and passengers on certain alarms in the event of an accident on water transport.

Also, a passenger card is attached to each passenger seat. It indicates the meaning of signals and alarms, the place of gathering on alarm, the number and place where the life raft or boat is located, instructions for putting on life-saving appliances and their storage locations. Therefore, it is very important to study all the safety information contained in this card in the first minutes of the passengers' stay on the ship.

Types of ship alarms and their meaning

There are three types of ship alarms in total:

1. "General ship alarm". This is one signal-call of a loud battle lasting 20-30 seconds, followed by the announcement "General ship's alarm" on the ship's broadcast. Such an alarm may be announced in the event of an emergency or pre-emergency situation, but it does not mean a call to leaveship.
2. "Man overboard". These are three long ringing signals of a loud fight, served 3-4 times. Following this signal, an announcement is transmitted on the ship's broadcast indicating the number of the boat to be launched. This alarm is for crew members only. The exit of other passengers to the open deck on this alarm is prohibited.
3. "Boat alarm". These are 7 short and 1 long signal-call of a loud battle, repeated 3-4 times, followed by an announcement by voice over the ship's broadcast. Served only when there is no hope of saving the ship. Announcements are made only by order of the captain. On this alarm, each member of the crew responsible for the safety of passengers takes them to the place of landing in a life raft or boat.

Ship evacuation cases

Evacuation is carried out only by order of the ship's crew. The captain gives an order to leave the ship (ferry and other types of water transport) in the following cases:

• there are signs of the inevitable death of the vessel (roll, deck, bow, stern sinking into the water);
• spreading of water through the vessel, leading to its flooding;
• ship icing or cargo shifting leading to capsizing;
• ship fire;
• forced by wind or current, the ship drifts on reefs where it can be capsized, with no possibility of changing the ship's control.

Basic rules of conduct

Rules of conduct whenwater transport accidents will be described below. The main rule is not to lose self-control and not to panic. It is very important to quickly and clearly follow the commands and instructions of the captain and crew members. If a distress signal is sounded, then:

1. It is necessary to put on as many clothes as possible, and on top - a life jacket. Wrap a scarf or towel around your neck, as it is the fastest of all parts of the body to cool. No need to take off your shoes.
2. If possible, take a warm blanket, drinking water and some food into the boat.
3. Take all your documents and wrap them in a plastic bag.
4. Without haste, but quickly, you should go up to the upper deck (always, while on board, study and remember the way from your cabin to the upper deck) and at the command of the crew members, after waiting for your turn, get into a life-saving device (a raft or boat).
5. Children, women, elderly and injured passengers are being evacuated from ship in distress.

Convinced that there is no one else on the ship to evacuate, the captain is the last to leave. It is recommended to move at least 100 meters away from the boat in the lifeboat.

In a lifeboat

Once on a raft or in a boat, you must continue to remain calm. It may turn out that it will take quite a long time to locate and rescue passengers who have left the ship. In this regard, it is necessary to more effectively retain body heat, economically consume drinking water and food. Sea water is not recommended to drink.

With no visibility of the shore, it is better for several boats to stay close to each other, not sailing far from the wreck. It is forbidden to use several smoke bombs or rockets at one time. It is more expedient to use them when there is a real chance that someone will notice the checker. Remember that without water a person can last about ten days, even longer without food.

When leaving the ship by jumping into the water

There are situations (not enough boats, rapid flooding, heeling or severe fire on the ship) when it is not possible to evacuate the ship to the boats, then you have to make a decision to leave the ship by jumping overboard. In this case, the crew team must instruct how to do it correctly.

It is better to jump to the place where the current will naturally carry the jumper away from the ship. When launching into the water, you can use the ship's ladder, if it is intact.

The jump should be made with the chin pressed to the chest, covering the respiratory organs with one hand, and holding the life jacket with the other. It is necessary to jump with half-bent legs, connecting the feet and inhaling deeply. Having jumped into the water, you need to start emerging with your eyes open so as not to fall under the bottom of the vessel or not to meet any debris. While in the water, you need to give whistle signals (whistles are available on all vests) or raise one hand.

Despite the fact that the water may seem warm, you still need to keep warm by trying to move less. The task of the jumping passenger is to be conscious andafloat. Grouping will help keep warm. To do this, wrap your arms around your body and slightly raise your hips to minimize the impact of water on the groin area, which cools the head, neck, armpits and groin area the fastest. Grouping perfectly retains body heat and increases the chances of survival by 30-40%. If you see a life-saving device, you must swim in its direction. If there is no room in the boat, they will throw a rope for you, tying it up, you can follow the boat.

Examples of accidents

Every year about two hundred thousand people die in the world as a result of marine emergencies and disasters. Of these, about fifty thousand die immediately after a shipwreck in the water, about the same number die in swimming facilities without getting to land, and the rest die along with ships in distress.

Among the numerous examples of accidents in water transport, there are several. For example, in 2011 in Russia, the lives of 121 passengers who were on board the ship "Bulgaria" tragically ended. The crash occurred three kilometers from the shore of the Kuibyshev reservoir.

In 2015, the trawler "Far East" sank in the Sea of Okhotsk. There were 132 fishermen on the ship. More than seventy people died, many of whom were rescued but died of hypothermia.

It's not just big ships that crash. Recently, many migrants around the world have been killed trying to cross maritime borders on small and old ships. Over 400 illegal migrants died in 2015 as a result ofthe wreck of a ship en route to Italy from Libya. In 2012, 90 out of 200 people sailing to Australia from Sri Lanka died in the Indian Ocean.

There are also ship collisions. In 2001, a tanker collided with a ferry in Bangladesh, killing nine passengers on the ferry and at least thirty-five missing. The surviving passenger claimed that there were more than two hundred people on the ferry, and the owner of the ferry said that there were no more than fifty.