Alcohol and unsafe behaviour are being cited as factors in the drowning death of a London man who fell from a cruise ship in Toronto.
The Transportation and Safety Board of Canada released its report into the death of 34-year-old Keith White on Thursday. The report found that White's unsafe behaviour and intoxication led to him falling overboard from the Northern Spirit I on June 13, 2015.
The board also found the crew’s emergency response efforts were not coordinated.
White's body was discovered 18 days after he plunged into the water. According to the report, his blood alcohol concentration was high, which would have affected his motor skills and increased the risk of hypothermia, decreasing the chance of survival in the water.
The board says two security guards rushed to prevent White from falling overboard after witnessing him leaning over the upper deck railing.
The report goes on to say, "because the signal to initiate the man-overboard procedure was not sounded, the crew's response to the emergency was not coordinated and did not align with the company emergency procedures."
There were also delays launching the vessel's emergency boat.
It was also determined that "although the crew had performed some emergency drills, they had not performed any man-overboard drills, which may have prevented the crew from being able to easily recall the steps to take during a person-overboard situation."
The full TSB report can be read here.
After the release of the report, members of White's family released a statement through their lawyer, Phil Millar. The family is suing Mariaposa Cruises.
It reads as follows:
"It has been tremendously difficult for our family to relive the events contributing to Keith’s clearly unnecessary death. We miss him every day, and his larger than life personality continues to leave a hole in our hearts and family.
The Transport Safety Board (TSB) report has directed a light on the crew’s “ad hoc”, “uncoordinated” and clearly insufficient rescue response. In particular, our family was devastated to learn that no emergency alarm was sounded (despite being the ship’s procedure), because they did not want to “alarm the passengers”. Additionally, it was 46 minutes until the safety boat on board the Northern Spirit was deployed to assist in the rescue of Keith. Man overboard drills had never been conducted by the crew. Additionally, crew did not adhere to muster list responsibilities which contributed to general confusion and lack of role clarity. Our family is reeling as, for us, the TSB investigation reinforces that this incident was very preventable. If a rescue could not be conducted in broad daylight, in ideal marine conditions, with a passenger trained as a lifeguard - this says to us they were not capable of saving any passenger, under any circumstance.
We want Mariposa Cruises held accountable for their actions, and we are pursuing legal action against them for a wrongful death suit. We are also very concerned that the industry known as “booze cruises” continues to be a high risk business. Our family feels strongly that in order to prevent another death, there needs to be a collaboration between Transport Canada and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) to have more stringent controls in place for these types of vessels. We are confident that our lawyer, Phillip Millar, will help us get to the bottom of this through the legal system."