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AN ordinary fan heater, but badly fitted, was the major contributor to the deaths of three fishermen in Fraserburgh Harbour, Scotland, almost exactly three years ago, an official inquiry has found.
The three men Ramilito Calipayan from the Philippines and Latvian Rimants Venckus, who were living and working on a prawn trawler Vision II, and Benjamin Potot, another Filipino who had come over from a separate vessel, died when the fire broke out early on the morning of August 1st 2008.
The fire was so fierce that more than 40 members of Grampian Fire and Rescue spent more than two hours trying to bring it under control The fire produced heat of several hundred degrees.
The findings have now been released by Sheriff Marysia Lewis, who said in her accident inquiry ruling that a number of agencies were confused over safety inspections.
The outbreak started when air vents on an electric heater became blocked. The fire accident inquiry said the fire could have been avoided if the heater had been placed in a plywood box to prevent obstructions to the air flow. It was also found that the fire alarms had been switched off and a fire door left open when the fire first broke out. This often happened when vessels were in port.
The inquiry raised a number of issues that should not have happened, including regular inspections and maintenance had not been carried out on emergency exits which meant that a seized-up escape hatch had not been discovered.
Sheriff Lewis said that two agencies - the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Sea Fish Industry Authority - had become confused about who was responsible for inspecting heaters and other safety factors and so none had been carried out.
Both of these agencies have issued a statement saying that clear action to address the safety issues raised had been taken since the accident. The Scottish Fishermen's Federation said the industry would study the findings to learn lessons, adding that it had introduced a code of conduct for the employment of non-EU crews.
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