Three dead on North Sea vessel
Men who were securing anchor chain lose their lives in incident



Last night Vroon Offshore Services regrettfully confirmed that the three crew members airlifted to Hull Royal Infirmary earlier yesterday afternoon from the Viking Islay are dead.

Their families have been informed and Vroon Offshore Services confirmed their details as:

Coxswains Finlay MacFadyen (46) from Aberdeen and Robert O’Brien (59) from Leven in Fife; and boatman Robert Ebertowski (40) from Gydnia, Poland.

The Viking Islay, a 53 metre emergency response and rescue vessel, was supporting the Ensco 92 drilling rig on BP’s Amethyst Field in the Southern North Sea when the accident occurred. She has now returned to port in Immingham where a full investigation will be carried out by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB).

Graham Philip, chief executive of Vroon Offshore Services Limited said: “This is a tragic incident which has shocked everyone at Vroon. Our heart-felt condolences go out to the family and friends of our colleagues and we are doing everything we can as an organisation to support them at this time.

“All three men were valued and dedicated seafarers and between them had over sixty years experience at sea.”

“The details of the incident are still to be established but it would appear that the men were undertaking an operation to secure an anchor chain in a storage area in the bow of the vessel.

“We are doing, and will continue to do, all we can to find out what happened. Our own investigation team has travelled to Immingham to work with the MAIB, the police and other relevant parties to carry out a full and transparent investigation.”

Vroon Offshore Services Limited is a UK company based in Aberdeen. It owns and operates 32 vessels ranging from purpose built cargo-carrying field support vessels to towing vessels and conventional emergency response and rescue vessels. Up until this year it was called Viking Offshore until sold to Vroon