FATALITIES AMONG THE WORLDS MERCHANT SEAFARERS (1990-1994)

This paper presents the findings of a study into fatalities among seaf arers serving on board merchant vessels worldwide. Statistics obtained from official maritime authorities are used to provide a comparison o f mortality rates among seafarers in 19 different national fleets, and to estimate the number of seafaring lives lost at sea worldwide. This study has the advantage of distinguishing between five different caus es of death at sea: deaths through maritime disasters, occupational ac cidents, illnesses, crewing personnel missing at sea and suicides, hom icides and unexplained causes. The findings are compared with those of previous studies and with published statistical information on casual ties worldwide. it is evident that statistics released by respected ma ritime sources grossly under-report casualties arising from disasters involving merchant vessels, and fail to address mortality through all other causes of death at sea. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. AII right s reserved.