Child drowns after boat capsizes off Victoria

[Heath]

By Karen Collier and Brendan Roberts November 29, 2007 12:10pm




A FOUR-year-old child has drowned after becoming trapped beneath a capsized boat off Victoria.

The child was with two men near Lake Entrances when the 6m boat overturned.

Police said the men scrambled on to the hull of the upturned vessel but could not help the child who was trapped beneath.

The men spent several hours floating at sea 200m from the shore before trying to swim to safety.

One of them made it to nearby Clonmel Island and flagged down a passing fisherman who raised the alarm about 9am. The second man was found on the same island later.

[FNQCairns]

Heard it on the news, it's a true shame, my first thought was does VIC have mandatory lifejacket laws, would be very hard to rescue a child in this senario if wearing one.

cheers fnq

[manchild]

Lost for words .Terrible tragedy.

[poundalead]

It raises the question would you take your 4-year old son/daughter offshore? Terrible shame that, just makes you think what was going through their minds when they were sitting on top of the upturned craft. Terrible........

[disorderly]

The men spent several hours floating at sea 200m from the shore before trying to swim to safety.



Sounds like a bar crossing gone wrong.
Happened before and will happen again.
Terrible situation when you have a youngster aboard though.

As George says "Lost for words".
So sad http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/../yabbfiles/Templates/Forum/default/cry.gif.

[squizzytaylor]

This is a true tragedy and my heartfelt condolences go out to the grandfather of the young fella, I only hope he can sleep better knowing that he did the right thing having the pfd on the lad.
RIP little guy.

Geoff

[jman2016]

As a father this tradegy will play on my mind. That grandfather and companion now have to tell the childs parents that their child will not be coming home. As a parent I could not think of anything worse.

My condolences to the family involved.

[artesian]

it is terribly sad.

Just as sad as if it happened in a car accident on the way to the shops.

I have a toddler, and am coming to terms with risk management every day, balancing growth and living life with possible consequences.

I take my hat off to my parents and everyone else here who has dealt with those challenges.

At least these grandparents and toddler were having a go, and I respect them for that. Not much of a life wrapped in cotton wool.

[freddofrog]

My boy has just turned 4. Can only bearly think of what the family is going through. :-[

Does anyone have anymore details on the circumstances behind the tragedy?

ff

[moater]

A damn tragedy for sure.I live less than 20 km from the place and have fished it since I was a little fella of 5 years old (41 now).My dad was always careful to not put his family in danger.I watched the national news and the local news with my little boy of 3 years old and I felt a huge sorrow for the little bloke that lost his life.I couldn't help thinking of the terrible last moments that little bloke had.

Apparently the little boy was totally under the guardianship of his grandad and his grandfather was extremely distraught to put it mildly.The report said that it was due to a mechanical breakdown and the things that went through my mind were steering failure,causing the boat to veer sharply and overturn or perhaps the motor broke down and the boat was crossing the bar at the time??..it looked like the boat was on a shallow part of the bar,whether or not it drifted there or not I don't really know.This entrance has claimed many vessels in its history and the Clonmel Banks + Clonmel Island were named after one of its many wrecks...it was a major port in Vic for many years,especially during the gold rush.

The conditions were pretty good and the boat was a 20 footer but apparently (without looking at the guide) it was a very low tide so maybe it was just bad judgement in trying to cross at the wrong time and place??

The report said that the boat was floating bow up and the poor grandad tried to get the little one out but the lifejacket was holding him up under in the bow section.We do have mandatory "lifejacket" laws here after a number of drownings of people that went out in smaller craft.This was put into place by a coroner that obviously isn't a boater/fisher.It's mandatory to wear one if in a craft under 4.8m LOA or if operating alone or in times of "heightened risk" such as bar crossings or rough weather.

There has been a lot of conjecture about this and not just here in Vic I've heard...ie this very scenario of any person no matter their age/ability,being trapped under an upturned hull or otherwise hindered because of what I call the "Yoke of opression".The worry is not confined to being stuck but also the chance of getting caught on other items and the difficulty of swimming with said "Yoke" on.There's also the main factor as to why people had the misfortune to die...there's always the "she'll be right" factor with people heading out into a blow or with one forecast to name a couple of factors.

A bit like driving...do we tell a probationary driver (sensible,not hoon scum) to not drive in wet/dark/icey/foggy conditions/to NOT DRIVE???

The most important issue here is that a little boy around the age of my own boy has died,and the poor grandad and other bloke on board (think it was a relly??) are TOTALLY overcome with grief...strangely I feel more grief than I would normally,maybe because it's my area??

My dad has a boat and my liittle boy idolises his grandad and looks up in awe at "pop's boat"...better to stay at sea than ever risk any life,especially these little gems. :'( :'( ...shhhiiiittt!:(


Also perhaps another good example where "level flotation" in boats should be considered?...it's what I want to aim for,before this tragedy.

Darren:(

[Luc]

A sad day with the loss of a young fisho.

My heart goes out to the family.

Seems unusual for the boat to float bow down. I would have taught that the weight of the engine(s) would make almost all boats float bow up.

Luc

[JEWIENEWIE]

Been awhile since i had a tear in my eye:'( :'(
Being a father for only two years sure brings new emotions good and bad into your life.
Dont know if i could deal with something like that.:-/
Please let us not judge, but be thankful for what we have and take a second for the young fella and his family.
Jewie