Tug boat operator fined £1.7m over sinking in fog that killed three crewmen

The Flying Phantom capsized in thick fog in December 2007 while towing a cargo vessel on the River Clyde near Glasgow.

At the High Court in Glasgow last month, Svitzer Marine Limited admitted a series of health and safety breaches.

It emerged that the Danish firm failed to act after a similar incident involving The Flying Phantom in December 2000.

Svitzer was fined £1.7m at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The sinking occurred six days before Christmas when the tug ran aground in the darkness and fog, and was pulled over on its side by cargo boat Red Jasmine.

Captain Stephen Humphreys, 33, and Eric Blackley, 57, both from Gourock, Inverclyde, died along with Bob Cameron, 65, from Houston, Renfrewshire.

A fourth man, Brian Aitchison, 37, from Coldingham in the Borders, managed to swim free and cling to a buoy and was rescued.

Port operator Clydeport Operations Limited is also being prosecuted over the incident. A hearing involving the firm will take place in Edinburgh next month.

Judge Lord Turnbull said the case was marked by Svitzer’s “enduring failure to take proper account of the level of risk” of towing in reduced visibility, as reported by the company’s own experts following an investigation into an incident on the Clyde seven years previously.

On December 29, 2000, the Greenock-based tug suffered £150,000 worth of damage when it was hit by a vessel it was towing, the Egyptian carrier Abu Eglia.

Company managers identified a high risk of the tug being overtaken by the vessel being towed while operating on a narrow stretch of water in foggy conditions.

Despite this Svitzer did not amend its operation manual or introduce procedures to avert the risk, Lord Turnbull said.

He acknowledged that a financial penalty “might seem entirely inadequate” for the loss of three lives. The men, he said, “had loving families who have had to endure the grief of their loss over the years until now”.

The judge said he found it difficult to understand why proceedings had taken so long to come to court, but said Svitzer had complied with prosecutors throughout the process and that he accepted that the company was “genuinely remorseful” over the tragedy.