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A heroic north-east fishing skipper has described his vain bid to rescue a member of his crew who plunged overboard into the North Sea.
The Press and Journal 15/08/2008
Charles Bruce, 23, managed to grab hold of father-of-two Reynaldo Benitez and tried to put a lifebelt on him but had to let go as he was being dragged under the water. The accident happened about 30 miles off Wick.
Mr Bruce, the youngest skipper at Fraserburgh and one of the stars of BBC TV’s new series of the documentary Trawlermen, was pulled back on board New Dawn. He was then airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary suffering from hypothermia.
Last night, Mr Bruce was recovering with his family at his home in Duthie Place, Fraserburgh. He said:
“My first instinct was just to jump in. I tried to get him into a life-ring twice but he was panicking. I was trying to shove it down right over his head. He was pulling at my back and I was trying to pull him up, but then we both kind of fell apart. The sea was pretty choppy and I drifted one way and he drifted the other. We just lost sight of each other.”
Mr Bruce added: “I thought that was me. I lost all my energy and there were these waves crashing over my head. I couldn’t shout or anything. The next thing I remember was lying back on the deck.”
Filipino Mr Benitez had been working in the north-east for about two years. He had recently returned to Fraserburgh after a trip home to the Philippines to see his wife and family. He was one of two foreign crewmen who worked on New Dawn.
The accident happened less than two weeks after three fishermen, two Filipinos and a Latvian, were killed in a blaze on the Fraserburgh-registered Vision II. Murray Campbell, senior superintendent at the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen’s Fraserburgh branch, said:
“This is just another tragedy for the town. We are all completely stunned. This man had been working here for two years and was very well known and popular. It’s very sad that Fraserburgh is facing another sad incident like this, so soon after the last tragedy.”
A statement issued by the fishermen’s mission on behalf of the Bruce family said the crew had been helpless to save their “friend and crewmate”. It said: “After shooting the nets, he went overboard while holding the gear. Co-skipper Martin Bruce, brother of Charles, said if he had still held on to the wire, they could have taken him back on board. But he let go and fell into the water.”
The statement continued: “Charles dived in and managed to get hold of him and tried unsuccessfully to get him to take hold of the lifebelt. Although the crew member had a survival jacket on, he was sadly lost. Charles had to let him go as he himself was going under.”
Mr Bruce left hospital yesterday afternoon. The latest drowning echoes a similar incident seven years ago involving his brother Martin, who was also on board New Dawn on Wednesday night. He plunged off the family’s earlier boat, Day Dawn, 80 miles from her home port.
Mr Bruce, now 31, spent more than half an hour in the water before fellow crewman James Masson jumped in to drag him back. Mr Benitez was wearing oilskins when he fell overboard about 10.30pm. A Shetland Coastguard helicopter and an RAF Lossiemouth-based Sea King helicopter were involved in the search. Ten nearby fishing boats and a Norwegian Coastguard crew also joined the overnight search. The hunt was eventually called off just after 10am yesterday.
An Aberdeen Coastguard spokesman said: “The temperature in the water is 14C and, given the length of time that has passed, we have reluctantly called off the search. We are well past the survival times in that water.”
The boat is operated through Caley Fisheries’ Fraserburgh office. Spokesman Jackie Tait said: “This has just been a real disaster for the crew.”
The Department for Transport’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch will begin an investigation and interview crew members.
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