The chief engineer on an Isle of Man registered motor yacht died after being electrocuted while carrying out repairs in the engine room.

An accident investigation report has now been published into the incident which took place on board the Baton Rouge in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, in February last year.

The investigation was conducted by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch on behalf of the Isle of Man Ship Registry.

Its report outlines how the Baton Rouge had lost power at around 10pm on February 22. When power was restored a ventilation damper in the engine room failed to reset and remained closed.

The failed equipment was located in a compartment accessed via a bolted hatch cover in a storage locker on the bridge deck.

At just before 9am the following morning, a series of alarms were activated on the machinery monitoring system. The second engineer found the chief engineer slumped and unresponsive, and he ran to the crew mess to raise the alarm.

The casualty was assessed to have suffered a heart attack. Repeated attempts to resuscitate him were made but following his transfer by air ambulance to a local hospital, he was pronounced dead at just before 10.20am.

Investigators confirmed that the chief engineer was electrocuted when he came into conduct with live 230V AC conductors while working on the ventilation damper electric circuit - but the reason why did so was unknown.

They suggested that he had probably chosen to work on the live circuit to avoid restricting the vessel to emergency power.

The MAIB investigation found that no rescue plan had been put in place to recover a person from the overpressure duct compartment.

Since the accident, the yacht’s manager, Nigel Burgess Limited, has updated its guidance and revised safety management systems. In view of this, MAIB made no recommendations in its report.