Peter T. Leach | Sep 11, 2009 9:27AM EDT
A crew member on a container ship died early Thursday after he fell overboard near the San Francisco Bay Bridge while preparing a portside gangway but not wearing a required life jacket, the company said.
The crewman was identified as Huang Chin Fu, an able-bodied seaman. He fell from the 900-foot container vessel Ever Elite at about 5:10 a.m., the U.S. Coast Guard said. The ship was maneuvering into the Oakland Outer Harbor when the incident occurred, authorities said.
A Coast Guard boat, a pilot vessel and several tugs responded to the scene. The crew aboard the pilot vessel found the man two feet under water with no personal flotation device, authorities said. He was taken to Pier 35 in San Francisco, where he was pronounced dead.
Evergreen said the vessel departed Oakland on Friday morning after the Coast Guard and American Bureau of Shipping inspected the ships’ gangways and declared them safe.
The ship, which operates between Asia and the U.S. West Coast, is owned by Evergreen Marine and registered under the British flag and managed by Evergreen Marine (UK).
Contact Peter T. Leach at pleach@joc.com.