Finding into death of Andrew Francis Powell
Deceased
Andrew Francis Powell
Demographics
32y, male
Date of death
2019-04-21
Finding date
2022-04-04
Cause of death
Drowning
AI-generated summary
Andrew Powell, a 32-year-old volunteer lifesaver, drowned on 21 April 2019 while performing a rescue operation in rough seas at Port Campbell, Victoria. A tourist became trapped in strong currents at Sherbrook Beach. The Port Campbell Surf Life Saving Club's rescue vessel, the Pelican, was deployed with Powell, his father Ross, and skipper Phillip Younis. During the rescue attempt in severe conditions (2+ metre swell), the Pelican experienced apparent mechanical failure of one engine while navigating breaking waves. The vessel capsized, ejecting all three crew members. Powell sustained head injuries and drowned. Clinical lessons include the critical importance of risk assessment before deployment, clear inter-agency communication protocols, early involvement of specialist marine coordinators, and ensuring rescue crews have adequate situational awareness of hazards and available resources before committing to dangerous operations.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- Severe sea conditions with 2+ metre swell and strong currents
- Mechanical failure or stalling of one outboard engine during critical manoeuvre
- Inadequate risk assessment prior to deployment
- Delayed notification of specialist marine rescue coordination centre
- Communication barriers between multiple responding agencies
- Lack of situational awareness regarding helicopter support availability and proximity
- Head injury sustained during vessel capsize
- Personal flotation device not fully effective in preventing drowning due to loss of consciousness from head trauma
Coroner's recommendations
- Life Saving Victoria implement all 32 recommendations from the Critical Incident Review Report dated July 2019, including: operational readiness inspections, vessel safety management systems, appropriate crew licensing and training (MAR20318 Certificate for skippers), maintenance record keeping, sea trials after repairs, personal location beacons for remote operations, suitable lifejackets for operators and rescue crew, head protection investigation, and review of vessel design to minimise head strike risk
- Parks Victoria work with Life Saving Victoria to develop adequate multilingual signage warning of swimming risks along Port Campbell coastline with emergency location markers/codes for emergency services
- Parks Victoria consider providing rescue/flotation aids along non-patrolled Port Campbell coastline areas for deployment during marine emergencies
- Improve inter-agency coordination through direct notification of Rescue Coordination Centre for marine search and rescue jobs, implementation of Supplementary Alerting System for direct tasking via Rescue Coordination Centre, and standardised multi-agency communication protocols
- Ensure all volunteer marine rescue personnel understand marine search and rescue command arrangements, control agency role, and requirement to be properly tasked before deployment
- Conduct annual pre-season briefings between Life Saving Victoria and emergency service organisations on tasking arrangements, communications systems, and seasonal capabilities
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