WATCH: (Scroll Down For Video) A Russian sailor who fell asleep while on duty as the sole watchman aboard a cargo vessel that crashed into rocks on the West Coast on Scotland after he drank two-thirds of a bottle of rum.
The 36-year-old Chief officer was eight times over the alcohol limit and had fallen asleep when in charge in February this year.
The Marine Accidents Investigation Branch (MAIB) investigation found the incoherent sailor was slumped in his chair and failed to change course as the ship passed through the Sound of Mull.
The cargo vessel Lysblink Seaways, which was carrying 50 tons of paper from Belfast to Skogn in Norway, changed course to take an inshore route along the coastline via the Sounds of Islay and Mull due to bad weather.
He was relieved from watch duty around 6pm that night and retired to his cabin while off duty, where made a phone call which ’caused him anxiety’, according to the report, which says he then consumed about 0.5 litre of rum.
The 36-year-old, took over from the second officer, a 45-year-old Estonian, again at midnight despite the ship’s no alcohol policy, with the ship on autopilot and the radar watch alarm sounding every six minutes at a low volume.
