A crew member serving aboard the 82 metre Abeking Rasmussen built Kibo was seriously injured when he fell overboard during a routine cleaning assignment.
He was rescued unconscious from the water off Puerto Portals marina and rushed to hospital in Mallorca where the yacht was lying at anchor.
The 22 year old British sailor Jacob Nicol was, at the time, serving on board the yacht as a deckhand for the summer season but he also works on board as a trainee assistant engineer during the off season.
The yacht’s Master, dived down 18 metres below the surface to rescue Nicol from underneath the yacht shortly after the alarm was raised.
Local news agency reports on the Spanish island suggest that the harness and seat used while cleaning the yachts side, hit the crewman’s head during his short fall. They have described his injuries as severe and stated that he had been left in a vegetative state as a result of his injury. They further suggest that he had been under the water for several minutes before he was pulled to safety.
As is normal in such cases, an investigating magistrate has subsequently questioned the Captain and other members of the yacht’s crew as part of the on going investigation into the accident.
Y.CO, the yachts managers are fully supporting both the deckhand and the yachts master and have reported that the injured seaman has been repatriated by Air Ambulance and is now receiving the very best of treatment in the UK.