THE death of a Chinese man whose neck was broken on board a ship en route to Immingham was an accident, an inquest jury has concluded.
Ji-Yue Wang, 35, was on board the Wah Shan vessel from The Netherlands when a tug wire snapped and broke his neck.
The crew had been attempting to secure a wire to attach to a tug boat, which was there to guide the 92,000-tonne vessel through the Humber estuary into Immingham Docks.
The post-mortem found that Mr Wang died instantly.
Dr Peters said: "He became entangled with the rope, which caused extensive bruising around his neck.
"There was a scar from one side of his neck around to the other side, and right up to the base of his skull.
"The cause of death was a fracture dislocation of the cervical spine, and he was pronounced dead at 8.15am."
The examination also found that Mr Wang had traces of ethanol in his blood, yet the investigation concluded that there was no evidence to suggest the effects of alcohol contributed to the accident.
The probe, carried out by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), found that the second officer, who was in charge of the operation on the deck, demonstrated "very poor leadership".
The investigating team have written to the builders of the ship, CSBC Corporation, who are based in Taiwan, to highlight the importance of considering safe working methods when designing vessels.
Dr Gopinath Chandroth, from MAIB, was responsible for the investigation.
He said: "At 7am, the crew, which included Mr Wang, came to send the messenger line to attach to the tug boat.
"The messenger line slipped off the end of the warping drum and struck him on the neck.
"The injury suffered by Mr Wang was extremely severe and it was very unlikely that either the crew or pilots could have saved his life."
The investigation also found that the risks involved in securing the wires had not been properly considered, and the aft mooring party used poor seamanship practices and did not function as an effective team.
Coroner Paul Kelly, presiding over the inquest at Cleethorpes Town Hall, concluded that there was nothing suspicious about the incident and the jury were right to record the death as accidental.
He said: "It is obviously a very hazardous occupation, and as we see here it can potentially be very dangerous.
"Humberside Police identified Mr Wang at the scene, and it was a broken neck that killed the man.
"Death would have been instantaneous."
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