By
Rebecca Gibson |
Wightlink Ferries has begun a full investigation into an incident that occurred onboard its St Helen car ferry as she arrived in Fishbourne, Isle of Wight, on 18 July.
The incident occurred at around 10:16pm after St Helen, which was carrying 181 passengers and 11 crew members, had completed her 9:30pm sailing from Portsmouth Gunwharf, UK, to Fishbourne.
After the vehicles on the ferry’s lower deck disembarked the ferry, Wightlink lowered the starboard forward mezzanine deck, which contained nine cars. When it was a short distance from the lower deck, it unexpectedly dropped a few feet and ‘made contact with the lower deck’, leaving three passengers and one crew member injured.
All four were taken to St Mary’s Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, but have since been discharged. A member of Wightlink’s management team attended the hospital to support the customers.
According to a statement issued by Wightlink, all of its ferries are regularly inspected by external surveyors and the last independent engineering survey onboard St Helen took place in May 2014 after her annual maintenance and refit. The operator conducted full safety checks on all of its other ferries and tested the mezzanine decks immediately after the incident. The ships have now been returned to operation, while St Helen remains out of service.
It is not yet known what caused the incident, which has been reported to the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.