Tag Archives: fishing tragedy
Minute silences to be held to mark anniversaries of Haut du Mont explosion and trawler tragedy
Minute silences will be held this week to mark the one-year anniversaries of two tragedies which claimed the lives of 13 people. The government has announced that public workers will fall silent at noon on Friday to remember fisherman Michael Michieli and his two crew – Jervis Baligat and Larry Simyunn – who were killed when their trawler was in collision with the Commodore Goodwill freight ship. Another silence will be observed at noon on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of the explosion at Haut du Mont on Pier Road. Nine residents – 72-year-old Peter Bowler, Raymie Brown (71), Romeu and Louise De Almeida (67 and 64 years), Derek and Sylvia Ellis (61 and 73 years), Ken and Jane Ralph (72 and 71 years) and 63-year-old Billy Marsden – were killed in the blast. Photos, more, >>click to read<< 11:03
MCIB Report into Death of Galway Fisherman Published
An investigation into the death of a Galway fisherman who became entangled in gear off Salthill last year, found the weather deteriorated “significantly” after the vessel which he fished with his father left the harbour. Tom Oliver, a relative of the Olivers who rescued two paddleboarders in Galway Bay in August 2020, died after he was dragged over the stern of the six-metre fishing vessel Myia on November 2nd 2020. His father Martin, who was almost 62, was found dead at home the following morning. >click to read< 11:21
Fishing tragedy: City of Galway at a standstill as father and son buried
When the funeral of Galway fishermen Martin and Tom Oliver left Claddagh church, the silence among hundreds of people lining the route was broken only by the roar of the river Corrib and the gentle sound of wind in canvas sails. Three Galway hookers had moored in the Claddagh basin, with musician Sharon Shannon on board the deck of one of the vessels playing soft airs on her accordion. Martin, who was almost 62, and his son Tom, aged 37 died within 24 hours of each other after a fishing accident on their potting vessel on the north side of Galway Bay last Monday. >click to read< 15:14
Cole Charles Rutzer – Memorial service is planned, date to be announced
Cole Charles Rutzer was born to Greg Rutzer and Lesley Ashby at Providence St. Peter in Olympia, Washington on March 5, 1998. The past few years Cole spent most of his time with his father and captain Greg, cousin Brent Gilbertson and friends Dylan Furford and Kaleb Orton working as a deckhand on the Pacific Dynasty. Cole died on July 2, 2020. His loyal companion, black lab Trigger, stayed with him until the end. Cole’s family plans to hold a service to honor his life near the end of August at Roberta Merino’s home. The date has yet to be set. Details of this gathering will be announced to the community once confirmed. >click to read< 08:03
Westport feeling deep loss after fishing tragedy
“You couldn’t get those two boys to sit still for too long, they were real adventurers,” Cole Rutzer, a 22-year-old Westport man whose body was found July 3 on the beach of a remote island near Kodiak Island, Alaska. He and his longtime friend and fishing boat crewmate Dylan Furford had taken a skiff from the larger boat to explore the island. Furford is missing and the Coast Guard has suspended its search. The two were part of a four-man 
crew on the Westport-based Pacific Dynasty, fishing for Dungeness crab. Rutzer’s dad, Greg, is the captain and his cousin, Brent Gilbertson, was the other crew member. The boat had dropped crab pots and had some down time so Cole Rutzer and Furford, also in his early 20s, had gone to Tugidak Island, taking Trigger, Cole’s dog. >click to read< 08:07
Tanner Gaudet sang to a seal, seagulls while fighting for his life after boat sank off P.E.I.
As he drifted away from the North Cape reef last September in the cold waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Tanner Gaudet found himself in the company of two seagulls and a seal. Moments earlier, the 22-year-old lobster fisherman had freed himself from the Kyla Anne by flipping open the sunroof in the rapidly sinking lobster boat’s cabin and, using the small opening, escaped before the vessel slipped beneath the crashing waves. Two other members of the boat’s crew lost their lives in the Sept. 18 fishing tragedy.,,, Disaster for the three-man Kyla Anne crew struck in an instant. >click to read<11:12
