Very serious marine causality on lake Hjälmaren

Summary in English

In the morning the 25 September 2024 a fisherman went out alone to empty his nets. Of unknown reason, he fell off the boat, which drove away. The boat was an open plastic boat with a 40 hp outboarder. The boat then circled until it was out of fuel. The empty boat was observed from land, and a rescue operation was launched. When the boat eventually was recovered, the plotter showed where the fisherman presumably had fallen off, and the search could be concentrated there. The rescue operation had now turned from a lifesaving operation to a search for missing person. Some five hours after the fisherman fell off, his body was found at a depth of six metres, close to the area where the boat had started to circle. The body did not wear any life jacket or floating aid.

The investigation shows that small commercial vessels are not subject of any national legislation regarding construction or surveillance. It also shows that there are means available which could prevent such accidents to reoccur.

The boat was built according to CE-legislation for leisure crafts, but did not comply to all these rules. The boat had in some aspects been modified, e.g. some fishing equipment had been mounted and some handles removed. The Swedish Transport Agency, which is responsible for control of the CE-market, have the latter years reduced these controls.

Causes of the accident

The cause to why the fisherman fell overboard has not been established.

Contributing to the outcome of the accident was that the safety switch (dead man switch) was not in use and the absence of life jacket or other buoyant aid.

Safety recommendations

The Swedish Transport Agency is recommended to

• intensify information to all actors, using small watercrafts, about available safety means for rescue in case of fall overboard (see section 2.1). (SHK 2025:12 R1)
• Enhance the control of the CE marking in regards to water crafts, and collect incident and accident information from boating (see section 2.3). (SHK 2025:12 R2)