The Maritime Accident Review News

On June 16, coinciding with the official opening of its headquarters in Lisbon, the Lisbon-based European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) released its second annual Maritime Accident Review. This year's issue of the review, which covers the year 2008, shows that 754 vessels were involved in 670 accidents (sinkings, collisions, groundings, fires/explosions and other significant accidents) in and around EU waters during 2008. This compares with 762 vessels involved in 715 accidents in 2007, and 535 vessels involved in 505 accidents during 2006. In 2008, 82 seafarers are reported to have lost their lives on ships operating in and around EU waters, the same figure as in 2007, yet up from 76 in 2006.