MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Foundering of Argos Georgia with the loss of 13 lives, MAIB report points to hatch failure

Image of Argos Georgia. (Courtesy of Argos Froyanes Limited)

The marine accident investigation report refers to the loss of Argos Georgia, 23 July 2024, which occurred approximately 190 nautical miles east of Port Stanley. The Accident Investigation report 19/2026 includes what happened, subsequent actions taken and recommendations.

Argos Georgia was a longline fishing vessel registered in St Helena. The vessel foundered while on passage from Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands to fishing grounds near the island of South Georgia. Of the 27 people on board, 13 lost their lives.

The investigation found that the line hauling hatch in the starboard side of Argos Georgia opened unexpectedly. This allowed significant quantities of water to enter the vessel, causing it to list to starboard and founder.

Safety issues

• Cause of loss: The manual securing mechanism for the line hauling hatch had likely not been applied and the hatch could not be closed by the crew. This led to the vessel progressively flooding, loss of stability and foundering.

• Technical and operational failures: The hatch’s drive mechanism had an unidentified design weakness, while open weathertight doors, vulnerable electrical systems and inaccessible manual controls allowed flooding to spread.

• On board emergency response: The crew’s response was unstructured, and delays in declaring distress and abandoning ship reduced rescue time. Poor evacuation control, extreme conditions and liferaft damage increased cold water exposure and loss of life.

• Shoreside management deficiencies: The company lacked effective systems for controlling safety-critical risks and for assessing, escalating and responding to flooding, abandonment and distress emergencies in severe weather and remote waters.

Recommendations

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency is recommended to amend Merchant Shipping Notice 1873 (F) – The Code of Practice for the Construction and Safe Operation of Fishing Vessels of 24m Registered Length and Over – to include design requirements for shell door arrangements that, as a minimum, require automatic locking arrangements capable of securing doors in the closed position.

Argos Froyanes Limited is recommended to implement a documented safety management system across its fishing vessels.

The Falkland Islands Government, Directorate of Emergency Services and Islands Security is recommended to enhance the Falkland Islands maritime search and rescue communications capability so that direct and reliable contact can be established with vessels in distress within the Falkland Islands maritime search and rescue area of responsibility.