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deadly collision at Brighton court

The skipper of the 'Vertrouwen', now sailing as 'Camm Bounteous Fr331', which sank another boat, the 'James 2', on Aug 6, 2017, and killed three anglers on board was distracted by his Whatsapp messages, a court heard. David Marr, 55, was sending messages to a friend as his 85ft vessel the Vertrouwen steamed down on the tiny fishing boat. The Brighton Crown Court was told the four anglers on board attempted to signal the scallop dredger bearing down on them by shouting and waving torches. The 'Vertrouwen' eventually missed their smaller vessel but it was swamped by a large wave, causing it to sink. Mircea "Mitch" Ilie, 40, Irinel Popovici, 41, and Traiam Dumitrache, 50 and Elvis Cojocariu jumped into the sea without lifebelts and attempted to swim for shore. Mr Cojocariu was the sole survivor. David Marr, from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, went on trial at Brighton Crown Court charged with failing to keep a proper lookout on board the commercial trawler contrary International Regulations on preventing a collision at sea. The court heard it should have had two watchmen on the lookout but only David Marr was on duty. Report with photos: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9340709/Trawler-captain-sending-Whatsapp-messages-vessel-hit-sank-smaller-boat-court-hears.html

Court hearing: Skipper distracted by Whatsapp ran over leisure boat

David Marr, 53, the captain of the "Vertrouwen", now the "Camm Bountenous", that sank another boat on Aug 6, 2017, killing three anglers was distracted at the helm by a WhatsApp message, a court has heard. He was sending messages to a friend as his vessel steamed down on the fishing boat off the coast of Shoreham, West Sussex. Realising they were about to be hit by the vessel the four anglers on board the small boat 'James 2' began signalling frantically, shouting and waving torches. At the last second they put their 15ft boat into a hard throttle to try to escape the giant fishing vessel. But the 'Vertrouwen', although it narrowly missed the smaller boat, swamped it causing it to sink quickly. The anglers, who were not wearing life jackets, jumped into the sea as their fibreglass boat sank and tried to swim to safety. All but one of the four anglers drowned at sea, with the sole survivor swimming for four hours and almost a mile and a half back towards the shore. On Dec 1. 2019,, Mr Marr, from Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, went on trial at Lewes Crown Court charged with failing to keep a proper lookout. The court heard the four anglers were Mircea Ilie, 40, Irinel Popovici, 41, and Traiam Dumitrache, 50 and Elvis Cojocariu - all Romanian nationals. Only Mr Cojocariu, 45, an electrician from London, survived after he was picked up by a fisherman at dawn who was out checking his nets. He was exhausted and suffering from hypothermia and taken to hospital. Report with photos: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-50633094

Report: Lookout of "Vertrouwen" was looking at social media on his mobile phone just before a collision

The lookout of the "Vertrouwen" was looking at social media on his mobile phone just before a collision which left three fishermen dead, an official report said on March 8, 2018. The three men who died were Mircea “Mitch” Ilie, 40, of Elm Grove, Brighton, Irinel Popovici, 41, of Barcombe Road, Brighton, and Traiam Dumitrache, 50, a fellow Romanian, from London. The only survivor was Elvis Cojocariu, a fellow Romanian from London, who was pulled from the sea suffering from hypothermia after five hours in the water. He was spotted clinging to a buoy. The report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch said that the lone lookout in the scallop dredging vessel "Vertrouwen" allowed himself to become distracted by using his mobile phone and working on a laptop computer. He was filling out a log entry on his computer which should have been completed before setting off from Shoreham Harbour. The report also found that the fishermen were not properly equipped or prepared. For example, they had no distress flares or fog horn. The three sea anglers drowned because they were not wearing lifejackets or buoyancy aids and were unable to raise an alarm. They went out with rods and lines to fish for mackerel in Mitch Ilie’s boat "James 2" a few hours before the collision which happened on Aug 6, 2017, just before 12.30 a.m. The "Vertrouwen", owned by MacDuff Shellfish, didn’t actually hit the "James 2" in the collision. But the wash from the vessel swamped the smaller boat and it sank in less than two minutes. Full report and video: http://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2018/03/08/lookout-was-looking-at-social-media-before-collision-which-killed-brighton-fishermen/ https://sputniknews.com/europe/201803081062344077-social-media-distraction-deaths/