Catamaran Exploded Ilfracombe

[graham]

Ispoke to a yachtsman coming up theBristol channel last night, he reported being anchored close to a catamaran that exploded at anchor in the "Range" at Ilfracombe.

It happened late Saturday night all 3 people aboard were seriously burned and airlifted to hospital .Apparently one person was blown off the boat into the water.

I later had the story confirmed by the local lifeboat crew.

It was fortunate they were not in the inner harbour which would be jam packed on a bank holiday.

I wont speculate on the cause ,lets just keep our thoughts and prayers for the crews recovery.

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[chas]

The cause was, I believe, LPG. There was a photo on the local news. I alwys turn mine on just before |I want to use it and off as soon as I finish.

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[mikewilkes]

I agree as this is what we do as well. We also turn the seacock on/off evertime we use the heads.
Mike

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[Birdseye]

any idea what the boat name was? i sail a cat in the bristol channel and so know many of the others multi hullers.

incidentally, why was it "catamaran exploded" and not "yacht exploded"? curious.

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[oldharry]

'Catamaran' not 'yacht'? Some journo showing off his technical expertise? - or simply quoting the RNLI/Harbourmaster, without knowing the difference....!

Horrible for those involved though, and a timely reminder for all of us who use LPG not to be complacent.

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by oldharry on 26/08/2003 09:05 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Twister_Ken]

Gas on/off tip

Read this somewhere and have been doing it ever since. Bought a metre of blue webbing (wanted red, but couldn't find it). One end is fixed inside the gas locker. When I turn the gas on I pull out the loose end of the webbing and it lays on the cockpit floor. Good visual reminder that the bottle is still turned on. So I turn it off and put the webbing back inside.



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[BlackSheep]

If you look at the MCA website, the press release reveals that it was in fact the dog that exploded! (however after being seen by a vet it spent the night in a local hotel!)
Perhaps the headline should have read - Dog explodes on Cat !!??!!

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[tome]

Re: Gas on/off tip

Nice simple idea, sounds like it came from an aircraft maintenance engineer - they use ribbons to warn that things like pitot covers are on. These have to be removed before the aircraft flies.

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[Birdseye]

Re: Gas on/off tip

apparently 2 people are in hospital with severe burns.

saw something not disimilar in Bristol marina a year or two back. In that case no one hurt, but the deck was completely lifted off, inside all smashed. horrific.

am definitely going to remake the feed to the gas heater this winter!

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[philmarks]

Re: Gas on/off tip

Newspaper today says that they got back from the pub, smelled gas. The son took off his Cardiff City football shirt and the static from the shirt ignited the gas. Lad has 40% burns, dad 25%. V sad.

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