Sister of fisherman who died off Newfoundland questions rescue response

[five_alarm]

ST. JOHN'S, NL - The sister of one of four men who drowned when their fishing boat sank off Newfoundland last month is questioning the speed of an attempted rescue. Mary Connolly's brother, Anthony Molloy, died Sept. 12 when the Melina and Keith 2 sank off Cape Bonavista.

The crew of 19-metre turbot boat called for help at 3:18 p.m. but a Cormorant helicopter wasn't dispatched from Gander, N.L., until 5:35 p.m. The chopper made it to the scene four hours after the sinking, well after another boat had rescued two survivors and just as two others were about to be picked up.

Connolly said too much time passed before the Cormorant arrived. "If they had gotten there sooner, maybe some of the men might have been saved," she told the CBC. "We don't know what to believe at this point. We would love for someone to give us some answers."

Source: canadaeast.com (http://canadaeast.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051018/CPA/42202026)

[Firefighter1680]

Yeah that doesnt sound too good...

[smoke286]

Not that I disagree, but if my math is correct they wouldn't have arrived before the other boat rescued them anyhow

[double0seven]

I agree that the situation is sad, but it all boils down to tax money. Ask the same people involved if they would mind their taxes being raised a month ago and they wouldn't be too long telling you that it is out of the question. Ask them now and I'm sure you would get a difference answer. Don't get me wrong, I have all the compassion in the world for these people and I agree with the fact that there should be faster response times, but it can't be done with the budget they have now. It's sad but true.

[bcfire]

I agree that the situation is sad, but it all boils down to tax money. Ask the same people involved if they would mind their taxes being raised a month ago and they wouldn't be too long telling you that it is out of the question. Ask them now and I'm sure you would get a difference answer. Don't get me wrong, I have all the compassion in the world for these people and I agree with the fact that there should be faster response times, but it can't be done with the budget they have now. It's sad but true.
We all ready pay enough taxes to cover govt services, we just need to keep it from being stolen wasted and embezzled. BCFIRE

[smoke286]

In fact we pay enough taxes for their to be multi billion dollar surpluses

[double0seven]

I agree we pay enough taxes, but try to convince people to spend it on response teams that might not ever get used or on the roads. People don't care about emergancy response until they need it. When something happens they say, why couldn't we get help faster? You can't really blame people there but that's just the way it works.

[18atone]

Ya people get all nimby when you try to build a firehall on their street but once there is a fire that same crowd is screaming at you for taking so long to get there.

(Not In My Back Yard)

[LTPVFD]

My question would have to be with regards to the weather. Not having the facts, it is hard to form an opinion, but was it safe for the Cormorant to be flying?? I know they can fly in almost any weather, and certainly risk their own lives in doing so.

However, there are times when the aircraft is better left on the ground ready to depart when it is safe. As much as we are there to help others, our own safety has to be number one.

Stay safe !!


LTPVFD

[five_alarm]

ST. JOHN'S, NL - Just over one month ago, on September 12 to be exact, the fishing vessel Melina and Keith II capsized off the coast of Newfoundland. The eight crew members were tossed into the unforgiving Atlantic Ocean. After hours in the water, four of those poor men succumbed to the cold waters and perished.

On that fateful evening, 1 hour and 55 minutes after the vessel was located, a National Defence helicopter took off from Gander. It took over 3 hours to arrive on scene. The rescue helicopter was later followed by the Coast Guard ship Leonard J. Cowley nearly 10 hours after the initial incident took place. According to recent reports, one survivor has said that at least one or possibly even two of those men could have been saved, if only response time had been faster.

According to a recent article published in the newspaper The Independent, “Phillip McDonald, a survivor of the sinking, says he’s haunted by the certainty a faster response--even by 20 minutes--would have saved at least one of the four men who died. McDonald--the fisheries observer aboard the boat--points blame at federal maritime search and rescue policy. According to that policy, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., National Defence’s maritime search and rescue helicopter must be airborne within 30 minutes of receiving orders. After 4 p.m., the crew is on a two-hour standby.”

Unfortunately, this sad incident took place after 4 p.m.

Source: canadafreepress.com (http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/higgins101905.htm)

[FireChef]

I know here on the westcoast the 442 Squadron at CFB Comox is manned 24/7. That is pretty much their whole duty is SAR. So I dont know why it would be different back east then out here.

[Pugfire]

I spent 4+ years in search and rescue out of Summerside PEI in the 1970s and things haven't changed a lot since then in certain respects.
As doubleOseven said MONEY MONEY MONEY. It costs dollars to have someone on "launch right now" standby 24/7. It takes more personnel to cover the shifts and personnel cost money.
Why do you think we don't ALL have full time paid firefighters?

Even Lifeflight helicopters have longer response times after certain hours.

To quote from the movie (and the book) "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe "No bucks, No Buck Rogers"

Willingness to pay for a service after the fact is not going to cut it, tell your MP to increase your taxes and dedicate the money to augment SAR Squadrons.

[five_alarm]

OTTAWA, ON - Conservative MP Loyola Hearn says reports of extravagant travel claims at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans are unacceptable in the wake of a fishing tragedy that cost four men their lives. Pressing the DFO travel issue in Parliament, the St. John's South-Mount Pearl MP questioned Fisheries Minister Geoff Regan about how Ottawa spends its money.

Four men died when the Melina and Keith 2 longliner sank off Cape Bonavista in September. It took the more than two hours for Search and Rescue to put a mission into the air. Afterward, officials said a lack of resources limits the speed with which Search and Rescue can react to after-hours distress calls.

Hearn contrasted the plight of the Melina and Keith 2 crew with the $42 million in hospitality bills claimed by DFO officials in the fiscal year ending in March 2004. "Could the minister tell us where his priorities lie: searching for fishermen in distress or for employees who have gone AWOL?" Hearn asked the Commons.

Source: stjohns.cbc.ca (http://stjohns.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=nf_hearn_dfo_20051019)

[smoke286]

Everything gets turned into a political game, Its sickening really

[bcfire]

Hearn contrasted the plight of the Melina and Keith 2 crew with the $42 million in hospitality bills claimed by DFO officials in the fiscal year ending in March 2004. "Could the minister tell us where his priorities lie: searching for fishermen in distress or for employees who have gone AWOL?" Hearn asked the Commons.

Nuff said! BCFIRE

[firefighter26]

Reminds me of that episode of the simpsons with the bear attack... afterward everyone is complaining about bears and the goverment puts out a bear patrol with SUVs, helicoptors and even stealth jets... and everyone is happy.... until they get the bear tax bill in the mail...... classic episode....

I think the general public expects emergency services such as police, fire, ambulance, rescue, sar, coast guard, etc, etc, etc, all the way down the line to be ready to scramble to an emergency 24/7 and when they don't they raise these huge fusses. The only thing is, no one ever complains when the government releases info about all the cut backs that lead to these short falls. They only ever complain when something happens.

I am reminded of an incident out here on this coast when the Navy Dive Team was disbanded. Everyone knew it was going to take longer to get an emergency dive team on scene and in the end there was never the huge public outcry that would have saved the team in the first place. Later, a boat capsized and a number of the crew died. Investigators said that if the wait for a dive team wasn't so long there was a chance some of them would have been saved from the hull of the boat. Another dive team from further away had to be brought in for the recovery.

The public didn't complain when they knew the dive team was going to be disbanded. However, they complained once they realized they needed it and it wasn't there.

It is the re-active approch that to the general public takes to emergencies.

This might sound bad but YES, the government is at fault for not providing enough funding to the countless organizations that use it to provide a better service. However, the public is at fault for not stopping the cut backs or pressuring the government for the additional funding in the first place.

[five_alarm]

ST. JOHN'S, NL - In the wake of the Melina and Keith 2 tragedy off Cape Bonavista in September, a vessel stability expert wants to study whether some fishing boats are more likely to sink than others. Memorial University engineering professor Don Bass, who has been testing the stability of fishing vessels for two decades, was preparing a proposal for Transport Canada when the Melina and Keith 2 sank.

Four men died and four were rescued in the Sept 12 sinking, which has drawn criticism for how search and rescue crews responded to the distress call. The Melina and Keith 2 was the latest of four vessels in this province with the same design to have sunk over the last nine years.

Bass says research is needed. "I just know that vessels of that particular generation were characterized by fairly low freeboard when they were heavily loaded, and probably a little less stability than some of the modern boats in the fleet – especially the fibreglass boats," Bass said.

Source: stjohns.cbc.ca (http://stjohns.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=nf_melina_prof_20051027)

[five_alarm]

ST. JOHN'S, NL - The Canadian Coast Guard says it made a mistake last September when four men drowned while waiting to be rescued off the coast of Newfoundland.

There have been many questions about why it took so long for the coast guard to respond. CBC News has learned a critical piece of technology that may have made a difference simply wasn't checked. The Melina and Keith II was 130 kilometres from shore with eight crew members when the fishing vessel suddenly rolled over. The eight men clung to the bottom of their overturned boat for two more hours before it finally sank from underneath them.

Phillip Macdonald, one of the survivors, recalls: "No suits. No raft. Then we saw the EPIRB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPIRB), it's an emergency indicator device. Seen that floating four, five feet from the side of the boat."

Source: cbc.ca (http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/11/25/melina051125.html)