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Prison style beatdown on commercial diver

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kicking

Drunk and baying like dogs, five women brutally attack a stranger in the street. The women – all from the same family – targeted Matthew Campbell, 38, at random, kicking and stamping on him as he lay prone on the pavement.

Their sickening eight-minute assault was captured on CCTV and resulted in all the women being jailed for six months. Mr Campbell, a commercial diver, told yesterday how he restrained himself from hitting back because he has never struck a woman before.

The video clearly shows him holding his hands up pleading with the women to stop, but a court heard they acted like a ‘pack of dogs’ to pursue their prey. The victim, who was walking home after a drink with friends, was lucky to escape the attack in November last year without major injury.

See the video here

He suffered bruising all over his body, heel marks and scratches on his back and head and had a footprint mark on his face. All the women, aged between 21 and 42, are members of the same extended family and most of them are well known to the police.

They had been drinking heavily at a birthday party that evening.
Prosecutor David Cammies said they attacked Mr Campbell for no apparent reason outside the Lloyds Arms pub in Grimsby town centre at 11.30pm.

Helen Barber, 29, Rachel Barber, 31, Kelly Macdonald, 32, Belinda Tomlinson, 42, and Katie Tomlinson, 21, all admitted affray. Recorder Rachim Singh told them: ‘The CCTV showed the sickening, brutal and repeated attack.

‘You were all fuelled by drink, which is not and can never be an excuse. Regrettably this has creeped into our culture and it really must be stamped out.’

Grimsby Crown Court heard Helen Barber, who has eight previous convictions including one for battery, suffered a broken nose in the incident. She was believed to have been hit by Mr Campbell in self-defence.

Yesterday Mr Campbell said he had become ‘wary’ of going out in town centres following the incident which left him badly shaken.

He said: ‘It was a real shock. I remember trying to create some space between me and the women and trying to work out what was going on.

‘You have to defend yourself to some extent. But I’ve never been violent against any woman. I was thinking I’d better not hit back.

‘I had to restrain myself. At one point there were eight or nine sets of hands on me trying to do some damage. Women like this are no strangers to mindless violence.

Drink is just a fuel. They don’t go out to enjoy themselves they go out to cause as much mayhem as possible. Society is in trouble when that happens. It used to be just men doing this sort of thing.’

Lee Rhoads, 32, also became involved in the attack and was jailed for four months after admitting affray.

The women all live in the Grimsby area. Katie Tomlinson, the youngest of the gang, describes herself on her Bebo site as being ‘born to be wild.’

She adds: ‘Happiest When im all stella’d up n partyin.’

english.kompas.com

Underwater Centre in Fort William achieves quality accreditation

Fort William

The Underwater Centre in Fort William has become the first provider of subsea training to be given a prestigious seal of approval from a national quality assurance organisation. 

The Centre, which delivers a range of courses in commercial diving and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), has been accredited by the British Accreditation Council (BAC), which oversees the quality of independent further and higher education in the UK.

IMCA Safety Flash 14/09

safety alert

Failure of Gas Supply to Diving Bell

A member has reported an incident in which there was a failure of the breathing system in a diving bell. During diving operations at a storage depth of 102 metres, bell checks were being carried out on one of the bells. The bellman did a full function test on the built-in-breathing system (BIBS) of the bell and it was established that the gas supply system had reduced flow to the BIBS at depth. After getting all divers to put on their own individual BIBS in the bell, to test the gas system, it was found that there was reduced and insufficient gas to supply the full dive team in the bell.

The following actions were taken as part of the investigation.

The dive team made similar checks on the BIBS in the second (port side) diving bell and the same problem was discovered. The starboard bell was surfaced and BIBS was then checked at the surface. The BIBS system could supply three divers at the surface, but under pressure the supply to the divers was inadequate.

The dive system was a new build and it was the first time it had been at a depth of 102 metres. The BIBS system had not been fully tested at this depth. The regulators were stripped to check for defects and none were found. A test rig was then set up in the workshop to mimic the BIBS arrangement and the pressure in the diving bell, where the flow was similarly found to be inadequate.

The problem was solved by fitting a higher performance regulator. This was found to give a far better flow rate on surface. The bell was then blown back down to storage depth, all three divers donned BIBS and a full function test was carried out. Good flow was reported from all divers. The same process was repeated with the port side diving bell with good results.

The company involved drew the following lessons from the incident:

♦ A full function test of the breathing system (BIBS and dive hats/band masks) at all maximum working depths should be conducted whenever there is significant change, including the following occasions:

– when a new build saturation system is first put into commission

– if the depth range of the dive system has changed to a deeper depth

– following any changes, any maintenance or any modifications

♦ It can be shown that during set-up for any new dive operations (e.g. at new locations or new depths) a simple purge of the BIBS and dive hats/band masks is not adequate to establish the full functionality of the breathing system.


Torn Ankle Ligaments

The Marine Safety Forum has published the attached safety flash concerning a crew member injured whilst stepping from one vessel to another when no gangway was available.


Potential Threat to Aviation Posed by Skysails

We have received two safety alerts – from CHC Helicopter and the European Organisation for Safety of Air Navigation (Eurocontrol) – concerning a recent incident involving a Skysail, an experimental supplement to standard ship propulsion.


Bisso Marine, Harvey Gulf launch new subsea venture

Harvey Discovery

Bisso Marine and Harvey Gulf International Marine LLC have joined forces in a subsea services venture called Harvey Bisso Subsea.

“This new venture is a perfect fit for both companies and gives us the opportunity to provide a wider range of subsea services to our respective clients,” said Shane Guidry, chairman and chief executive officer of New Orleans-based Harvey Gulf.

Norwegian government finally pays out for 1983 Byford Dolphin diver death

Byford Dolphin

The children of a Northumberland diver killed in an oil rig blast have finally won a fight for justice with the Norwegian government – 26 years after the tragedy.

Stephen Lucas was just 10 when his father Roy, 38, died in a diving bell accident off the Norwegian coast in November 1983. Mr Lucas was killed with four other divers during the tragedy at the Byford Dolphin rig.

JV between OMAK Maritime and Riise Engineering lands 5 month IRM contract

Viking Forcados

Riise Underwater Engineering (RUE), in a joint venture with OMAK Maritime Ltd, has been awarded a five-month Inspection, Maintenance and Repair (IMR) contract by Shell (SPDC) in Nigeria.

The contract includes but is not limited to air diving and topside IMR work on three SBM loading buoys in the Bonny field and two SBM loading buoys in the Forcados field.  Also included in scope of work is IMR work on central loading platforms.

$500 million EPIC contract awarded to Acergy for offshore Nigeria

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Chevron Nigeria

LONDON –– Acergy S.A. announced today the award of a contract valued at approximately $500 million from Chevron Nigeria Ltd for their gas development programme in Escravos, offshore Nigeria, in water depths of up to 40 metres.

This engineering, procurement, fabrication, transportation, installation, tie-in and commissioning contract includes the procurement and installation of over 130 km of pipelines, the fabrication and installation of 15 risers and 3 subsea tie-ins and the installation of over 40 crossings.

Technip sees pick-up in activity in 2010 or early 2011

Deep Blue Technip

PARIS  — French oil engineering group Technip expects a “sustained” activity in 2010 and believes it could see a “strong pick-up” beginning at the end of next year, its chief executive told Les Echos on Monday.

“In terms of volumes of awarded projects, we forecast a rather sustained activity in 2010. There could even be a strong pick-up at the end of 2010 or at the start of 2011”, Thierry Pilenko said.

Seamar completes acquisition of SeaQuest Diving, LLC


Seamar, a provider of subsea construction services to the domestic and international oil and gas industries operating at water depths up to 300 feet in the Gulf of Mexico and select global markets, has announced the acquisition of SeaQuest Diving, LLC.

As a result of the purchase, Seamar has acquired all of SeaQuest’s assets including, but not limited to, the M/V SeaQuest I, a 180 ft. 4PT dive support vessel (renamed the DSV Seadiver), a wide array of life support equipment and dive spreads ranging from shallow water to deep gas.

Hydrex operation fully operational at the Strait of Gibraltar

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hydrex
hydrex



Hydrex has announced that their office in Algeciras, Spain is open and ready for business.  They offer a large variety of maintenance programs and repair works for ship owners and the offshore industry, both underwater and above water.

Underwater maintenance services include hull cleanings of any size vessel, propeller polishings and cleanings, class accepted video surveys, visual and photo surveys and tail-shaft wear down readings. Underwater repair work consists of propeller repairs, shell plating crack repairs, mobdock repairs, rudder pintle repairs and any type of welding work.

Hydrex Spain also offers a wide range of above water operations including accomodation ladder repairs, anchor and chain work, cell guide repairs, crane repairs, hatch cover repairs and mechanical and engine works.

Hydrex Spain is fully geared to carry out repairs at anchorage and in port. All operations are certified by the classification societies and are carried out by highly qualified divers and technicians all of which have extensive experience. For every type of job the office is capable of organizing personnel, equipment, workboats, spare parts and any other logistics that are required, even at the shortest notice. For more information please contact general manager Juan Cuenca at

Hydrex Spain S.L.

Poligono Industrial Palmones II

Calle Dragaminas Nave N29

11370 Algeciras

Spain

Phone: +34 956 675 049

Fax:     +34 956 921 914

E-mail: [email protected]

www.hydrex.es