Three fishermen drowned after their boat's hold flooded and their life raft failed to inflate because its gas canister was empty, a sheriff has determined. The Louisa sank on 9 April 2016 while at anchor in calm seas off Mingulay in the Outer Hebrides.
Sheriff Principal Derek Pyle said the CO2 cylinder had not been filled by a subcontractor during a service. He concluded that if the crew had been able to board an inflated life raft, they would almost certainly have survived given the benign weather and sea conditions.
The victims were skipper Paul Alliston, 42, from Lewis, and crewmen Chris Morrison, 27, from Harris, and Martin Johnstone, 29, from Halkirk, Caithness. Only Lachlann Armstrong, from Stornoway, survived by swimming ashore.
The fatal accident inquiry also identified issues with the men's lifebelt buoyancy aids, which failed to keep them face-up in the water. However, the sheriff said there was no evidence a better design would have saved their lives.
The inquiry heard that the crew's distress alert was detected but the search and rescue centre in Stornoway took time to establish the boat's exact location. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has since made changes to improve its response to satellite distress beacon alerts.
