Death of man on the Droitwich Junction Canal ruled accidental

Allen Green, 49, drowned when his narrowboat sank in Lock 5 on the Droitwich Junction Canal on 25 July, 2016.

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22 November

The death of a man, whose narrowboat sank on the Droitwich Junction Canal, has been ruled as accidental by a coroner.

Allen Green, 49, drowned after saving his mother and dog from the sinking boat.

The inquest heard that he had been navigating through Lock 5 on the canal when the rudder became trapped in the gates, causing the narrowboat to sink.

He had returned to the vessel to collect some personal items when he became trapped inside.

Despite attempts to resuscitate him at the scene, Mr Green died.

An investigation was launched by the Canal and River Trust, which is responsible for the waterway.

It found there was nothing wrong with the lock.

Speaking to the BBC after the verdict, the trust’s head of health and safety, Tony Stammers, said: “Mr Green’s death is tragic and our thoughts remain with his family and friends.”

“We carried out a full investigation at the time to establish whether the condition of the lock could have meant the events of July were avoided. As reflected in the coroner’s judgement, there were no structural issues with the lock that contributed to the chain of events that occurred,” continued Stammers.

“Incidents like this are very rare on the nation’s canals. We’ll continue to work with boaters, experts and local communities to ensure the waterways can remain safe and enjoyable places for people to visit,” he stressed.

 

10 October

A pre-inquest review has been held into the death of a man who died when his narrowboat sank on the Droitwich Junction Canal.

Allen Green rescued his elderly mother and his dog before returning to his sinking narrowboat at Lock 5 of the canal on 25 July, 2016.

The 49-year-old subsequently became trapped on the vessel.

He was rescued by the emergency services, but was pronounced dead at the scene.

The pre-inquest review into Mr Green’s death was held on 7 October, 2016, and looked at the scope of the inquest, the evidence to be heard, along with a list of witnesses to be called.

A final hearing has been scheduled by the Worcestershire Coroner’s Service for 17 November, 2016.

 

3 August

An inquest has been opened into the death of a man, who died when his narrowboat sank on the Droitwich Junction Canal.

Allen Green was rescued from the boat by the emergency services on 25 July.

Despite attempts to resuscitate him, the 49-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

The accident happened at Lock 5.

On board at the time of the incident was Green’s elderly mother and his dog.

He managed to save their lives before dying.

An investigation was launched by the Canal and River Trust, which is responsible for the waterway.

It found there was nothing wrong with the lock.

 

26 July

A man in his 40s has died after his narrowboat sank on the Droitwich Junction Canal,
off the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

The emergency services were called to Lock 5 on the morning of 25 July following reports of the sinking.

The lock was drained by crews from the Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.

Despite attempts to resuscitate the man at the scene, he was pronounced dead.

An elderly woman, believed to be the man’s mother, was also on board the boat but managed to get off before it sank.

She was assessed by paramedics from the West Midlands Ambulance Service, but was found to be unharmed.

The narrowboat has now been removed from lock 5, and the navigation has been re-opened.

It had been closed since 13.00 on 25 July.

The Canal and River Trust, which looks after the Droitwich Junction Canal, said it would be looking into the incident to see if any lessons could be learnt.

“We’re deeply saddened to hear that someone’s lost their life on the canal, and our thoughts are with the family at this very difficult time,” said a trust spokesman.

“We’re in contact with the emergency services to try to understand exactly what has happened, and will do anything we can to help as they conduct their investigation,” continued the spokesman.

“Incidents like this are rare, and there have been no indications as yet that there’s a fault with the canal, however we’ll be looking at whether there’s anything we can do to prevent this kind of thing happening again in future.”

Fire crews from Droitwich, Malvern and Evesham all attended the incident.

The Canal and River Trust, the Midlands Air Ambulance and the Hazardous Area Response Team also attended the scene.