Fatal Fishing Accident Off Coast

OCEAN CITY — An unidentified crew member on the New Jersey-based “No Worries” sport fishing boat lost his life this weekend after getting struck by the vessel’s propeller while attempting to get it untangled from a lobster trap about 60 miles off the coast of Ocean City.

On Saturday, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a call to mariners in the area from the sportfishing vessel “No Worries” about a crewmember who had suffered a head injury and was unresponsive. The vessel was fishing when it reportedly ran over a lobster trap, the line of which fouled the boat’s propeller.

The unidentified crewmember dived overboard to attempt to free the propeller from the lobster trap lines while the vessel idled. According to sources, the victim was able to free the entangled prop, which then started functioning again and struck him in the head. The “No Worries” crew was able to get the victim back on board. The Coast Guard cutter “Vigorous” was in the area and was the first to make contact with the “No Worries.”

According to Coast Guard Petty Officer David Marin, the crew on the cutter “Vigorous” was talking the crew on the “No Worries” through CPR and other emergency medical procedures on the unconscious victim.

“The “No Worries” was separated by quite a distance from the ‘Vigorous’ and started making its way to shore, but they were still at least three hours out,” said Marin on Monday. “The Coast Guard remained in contact with the vessel, and a short time later, learned the crew had stopped CPR on the victim and was continuing in.”

Marin said a Coast Guard vessel out of the Ocean City Station met the “No Worries” near the Inlet about five or 10 minutes out and escorted the vessel into the station where EMS and a coroner were waiting. He said the investigation into the tragic accident was ongoing, although the investigation in terms of the Coast Guard’s response is closed. The victim’s identity has not been released, nor will it likely be released by the Coast Guard. Marin said the “No Worries” is a sportfishing boat based in New Jersey, but was not for hire as a charter on Saturday.

Local fishing enthusiasts will likely recall a vessel named “No Worries” caught and released the first white marlin of the season off the coast of Ocean City in June. However, the vessel involved in the fatal accident off the coast on Saturday is not the same “No Worries.”