Another tragedy

[ditchcrawler]

This just came up on Facebook

 

A nasty thing happened here yesterday. At the top of the Welford Arm, a narrowboat was using the winding hole when the steerer fell off and into the water, where he disappeared. 20 minutes later the body was recovered. Despite the attendance of at least 5 police, 2 fire and rescue and an ambulance vehicle, along with the local air ambulance, it ended tragically. Be careful people, boating is not always as safe as we want it to be.

[zenataomm]

How awful.

Sympathies and thoughts to all involved.

[pete.i]

All deaths on the inland waterways are, more often than not, avoidable but none the less, especially to the families and friends involved tragedies. Now whilst I fully appreciate that the Canal and River Trust cannot save every life that is lost it can and does try to make people and children more aware of the dangers involved with any water. The Canal and River Trust do a completely free water safety presentation for schools and uniform groups. The take up of this absolutely free service in the ten years that I have been doing it has been abysmal from schools and groups. I attended a Welsh water safety meeting a few weeks ago as the CRT representative. There were big wigs from the fire service, RNLI and other interested parties and water users at that meeting and in amongst all the other stuff that was brought up was the fact that schools do not seem to be particularly concerned about the safety of their children which would seem to be born out by the fact that the take up of the free water safety presentations that the CRT and other bodies do has been so low. I am assured that the Canal and River Trust do contact schools but they do not seem to get many responses.

 

I know this will bring out all the criticizers/moaners/anti CRT posters that seem to frequent this forum but the fact is that The Canal and River Trust, along with other water borne organisations, do try to do something to, at least, make people aware of the dangers associated with water.      

[George and Dragon]

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

This just came up on Facebook

 

A nasty thing happened here yesterday. At the top of the Welford Arm, a narrowboat was using the winding hole when the steerer fell off and into the water, where he disappeared. 20 minutes later the body was recovered. Despite the attendance of at least 5 police, 2 fire and rescue and an ambulance vehicle, along with the local air ambulance, it ended tragically. Be careful people, boating is not always as safe as we want it to be.

Can't find anything about this on either Leicestershire or Northamptonshire police websites. The whole of the Welford arm is in Leicestershire but Welford village is in Northamptonshire which might lead to either force attending.

[MtB]

The wide ranging and big picture safety measures are pete.i mentions are well and good but in a tragedy like this, I wish we could find out what exactly happened in more detail than 'somebody fell in and died'. It is by learning the detail of accidents like this we become aware of the exact risks and can take steps to avoid them.

 

When winding my own boat I worry about the wooden handle on my tiller snapping when I'm pushing it hard. If a tiller handle snaps the steerer pushing hard on it is highly likely to go over the side  into the water. If the boat is in gear they are at high risk of the water flow dragging them into the propeller. 

 

I'm not saying this is what happened here but strikes me as a serious risk, and is not something I've ever seen mentioned on this forum but it *could* explain what happened. But regardless of what happened here, be very careful people when pushing your tiller over hard, just in case the wooden handle snaps and you go over the side. Better, push on the brass tiller bar at the point where the handle fit into it.

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

43 minutes ago, George and Dragon said:

Can't find anything about this on either Leicestershire or Northamptonshire police websites. The whole of the Welford arm is in Leicestershire but Welford village is in Northamptonshire which might lead to either force attending.

Someone else has confirmed it and complained about the post as it was the husband of her friend

[Naughty Cal]

Accidents happen unfortunately and no amount of investigation will ever be of any comfort to the family of those involved. ☹️

[Tracy D'arth]

People fall off things and boats for lots of reasons.

We don't know why the gent fell or why he did not recover himself from the water.

It could be illness, heart attack etc prior to falling, no point in supposition.

[Rob-M]

2 hours ago, MtB said:

The wide ranging and big picture safety measures are pete.i mentions are well and good but in a tragedy like this, I wish we could find out what exactly happened in more detail than 'somebody fell in and died'. It is by learning the detail of accidents like this we become aware of the exact risks and can take steps to avoid them.

 

When winding my own boat I worry about the wooden handle on my tiller snapping when I'm pushing it hard. If a tiller handle snaps the steerer pushing hard on it is highly likely to go over the side  into the water. If the boat is in gear they are at high risk of the water flow dragging them into the propeller. 

 

I'm not saying this is what happened here but strikes me as a serious risk, and is not something I've ever seen mentioned on this forum but it *could* explain what happened. But regardless of what happened here, be very careful people when pushing your tiller over hard, just in case the wooden handle snaps and you go over the side. Better, push on the brass tiller bar at the point where the handle fit into it.

 

 

I have thought about the wooden handle snapping whilst I'm pushing hard on it so I do as you suggest and push against the brass tiller bar.  I also hold on to one of the slide rails with my other hand just in case.

[ditchcrawler]

On 05/03/2022 at 17:40, George and Dragon said:

Can't find anything about this on either Leicestershire or Northamptonshire police websites. The whole of the Welford arm is in Leicestershire but Welford village is in Northamptonshire which might lead to either force attending.

Man dies in canal after falling off narrow boat near Harborough | Harborough Mail