Excess speed, not wearing a suitable personal flotation device and inability to swim have been identified as factors in the death of a person on a jetski or personal watercraft (PWC) near Ballina pontoon on the Shannon in May 2023.
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) report says that lack of training in operating a high-powered PWC was also a causal factor in the incident.
The report recounts how, at approximately 16.00 hrs on May 31st, 2023, a Sea-Doo 300 hp PWC was launched into the water at the public slipway south of Ballina by the casualty, approximately 550 m south of the Killaloe Bridge.
The victim, who was not named in the MCIB report, was Wassiou Ayawe Moran (19), a soccer player with Limerick FC, who had bought the jet ski the previous day.
The width of the Shannon varies from approximately 80 m wide at the launch slipway, widening to approximately 120 m wide at the Ballina pontoon before reaching approximately 150 m wide at Killaloe Bridge, the report notes.
It says the PWC was being operated in the area between the launch slipway and the Killaloe Bridge, with some brief transits north of the bridge. The incident in which the PWC capsized occurred approximately mid-river, just south of the bridge.
The Sea-Doo RXT X 300 in this instance was a very powerful 300 hp machine, the MCIB report says, and is described in the manufacturer’s literature as the ‘Ultimate Offshore Performance Watercraft’.
At approximately 17.00 hrs the PWC and the three occupants passed the pontoon at speed and made a sharp left turn in an area that was approximately mid-river and just south of the bridge. All three people fell off the PWC when it capsized during the sharp left turn, the report says.
The two passengers, one of whom was wearing the casualty’s PFD, recovered from the fall and swam ashore to the Ballina pontoon.
It says the driver of the PWC, who was not wearing a PFD, was not visible from the shore and was feared to have gone under the water. The alarm was raised by a member of the public, and a search and rescue (SAR) operation commenced.
The casualty was recovered from the water after a search involving local emergency services at approximately 18.45 hrs.
It says the marine casualty occurred due to a combination of the following causal factors:
- Operating a high-powered PWC at excess speed and at a speed in excess of the local speed limit while conducting various manoeuvres.
- A fall overboard into cold water.
- Inability to swim.
- Lack of training in the operation of a high-powered PWC.
- Not wearing a suitable PFD.
- Failure to follow the local area bye-laws relating to vessel speed.
The MCIB report has made a number of recommendations for bodies, including Waterways Ireland, the local authorities, the Garda, Water Safety Ireland, and the Minister for Transport.
It asks the Minister for Transport to “consider the contents of this report and the Marine Casualty Investigation Board Report No.131 entitled 'Report into a collision between two jet skis in Cashla Bay, Co. Galway on 2nd October 2006', and its safety recommendations”.
It says this is “with a view to carrying out an information sharing and consultation process focussed on the enforcement of the provisions in legislation and bye-laws for the safe operation of PWC (as took place at the safety forum on enforcement in 2015)”.
“ This should include the consideration of a national mandatory PWC registration system,” the MCIB says.
The full report is here
