Marine Accident Brief: Capsizing and Sinking of Towing Vessel Ricky J Leboeuf

About 0752 local time on April 19, 2016, the uninspected towing vessel Ricky J Leboeuf capsized and later sank while attempting to remove a barge from a fleeting area in the San Jacinto River near Channelview, Texas. Four of the five crewmembers survived, but one deckhand died. The vessel sustained an estimated $900,000 in damage, rendering it a constructive total loss. Less than 100 gallons of diesel oil, lubricating oil, and other contaminants were released into the river when the vessel sank. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the capsizing and sinking of the towing vessel Ricky J Leboeuf was the relief captain’s ill-advised decision to perform a downstreaming maneuver in high water conditions without implementing the operating company’s risk mitigation strategies or other safeguards.

• Record URL:
  https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/MAB1704.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Corrected February 10, 2017.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Publication Date: 2017-1-23

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; Photos; References;
• Pagination: 8p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Capsizing; Crash causes; Crash investigation; Fatalities; Ship pilotage; Towboats; Water transportation crashes
• Geographic Terms: Channelview (Texas)
• Subject Areas: Marine Transportation; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01626605
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB/MAB-17/04, Accident no. DCA16FM037
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 27 2017 9:25AM