GERMANIA NOVA

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Crew member died after falling from mast

A British crew member has died after falling from a mast on board the "Germania Nova". The yacht was moored in Jamaica’s Erroll Flynn Marina when the incident occurred on March 15, 2017, at 2:30 op. Bethany Smith, 18, from Denbighshire, had gone aloft to clean the mast. Under circumstances that appeared to be related to her safety lines, she fell 30 feet to the deck and was fatally injured. A rope had come undone. The young woman was rushed to a nearby hospital with multiple injuries but could not be revived. An immediate investigation was already underway. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to cover the family's costs resulting from the incident. At the time of writing, the appeal has raised more than $11,000 in less than 24 hours. Smith had joined the crew of the schooner in February 2016 as a deckhand, later crossing the Atlantic on the vessel for the summer charter season in the Mediterranean.