The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has issued a security bulletin following the engine room flooding and foundering of the strict trawler Piedras (FD 528) which led to the failure of a liferaft to inflate. A second liferaft was efficiently launched, and the crew have been rescued.
Both liferafts exhibited deficiencies that raised servicing and certification considerations and are prone to have contributed to the failure, says MAIB. The port liferaft was by no means recovered, however inspection of the starboard liferaft discovered that it had not been appropriately serviced since manufacture in March 2007, regardless of having been routinely licensed.
Shortly after the accident, MAIB wrote to Deutsche Schlauchboot GmbH (DSB) father or mother firm Survitec to subject suggestions relating to the servicing and certification of its liferafts. The suggestions have been made to make sure all homeowners and operators of liferafts serviced by Comfer Marin SL, Spain, between Jan 2017 and June 2022 contact their nearest accepted Survitec liferaft service station.
