Search ends for Norfolk-based sailor missing after accident

By Matthew Jones
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 5, 2009

The Navy has concluded efforts to search for a sailor who was missing in the waters of the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday missing after an accident aboard the Norfolk-based amphibious transport dock San Antonio.

The search continued for more than 24 hours, said Lt. Nathan Christensen, a Navy spokesman. The name of the sailor is being withheld until relatives can be notified.

The incident happened about 8 a.m. local time as crews were lowering an 11-meter rigid hull inflatable boat from the ship into the water, according to a news release from the Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet.

The tending line and inflatable boat crane cable became entangled, causing the boat to flip over.

As the boat flipped, three sailors were thrown into the water.

Two were recovered uninjured; the third is still missing.

The ship immediately began conducting search and rescue operations.

The accident is under investigation.

At the time of the accident, the boat was preparing to conduct routine personnel transfers to another U.S. ship in the gulf.

Matthew Jones, (757) 446-2949, matthew.jones@pilotonline.com

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I am a very good friend of

Submitted by Nana Yaw on Sat, 02/07/2009 at 8:39 pm.

I am a very good friend of the missing sailor and there are many unanswered questions here that the navy has not been able to answer. They are also telling us different story than what is being reported in the news. We were told they found his Personal Flotation Devices (PFD) intact which is very hard to belief and only two out of the 3 sailor fell out of the inflatable boat (RHIB)

Where was The Safety Observer?

Submitted by Charlie1220 on Fri, 02/06/2009 at 9:09 am.

This wasn't a man overboard in the middle of the night. This was a controlled dangerous evolution conducted over and over during a deployment. The boat crew should have had Kapok or other style lifejackets on during the whole time in the boat. It's a requirement. The senior person should have acted as safety observer to ensure this. If the boat was to capsize (as it did), the worse that would happen is to send a person to the water, where he could be quickly rescued. Why was a detailed "search" required. why wasn't he found directly under the overturned boat? There are many unanswered questions here.

Missing Sailor

Submitted by Eric Kaiser on Thu, 02/05/2009 at 1:09 pm.

I was wondering, did they have PFD's on or not? No mention in the articles I've read and heard on the news. I belive it is a requirement when you are lowered from a ship in a RIB.