Inland waterways captain found dead in Atmata River

A captain with Lithuania’s Directorate of Inland Waterways was found dead in the Atmata River in Šilutė district on Friday after setting out from a dredger in a small boat, LRT reported.

Fire and rescue services received a report at 1.34pm that the employee was missing. He had left the dredger by boat about half an hour earlier. Rescuers searched the vessel and the riverbank before finding his body at about 2.30pm. Medics pronounced him dead.

The man, born in 1964, was a crew member of the directorate’s dredger Nemunaitis. The directorate said colleagues saw the boat drifting without him and notified his supervisor and emergency services.

The police have opened a pre-trial investigation to establish the cause of death. A police representative said it would likely be reclassified under Article 176 of the Criminal Code, which concerns an employer’s responsibility for negligent breaches of workplace safety requirements leading to a serious or fatal accident or other serious consequences.

The directorate said the Nemunaitis dredger, accompanied by the Luodis vessel and a barge, had finished scheduled work near Uostadvaris port and was travelling towards Kaunas. On the morning of October 9, a manager coordinating the work had instructed the crew not to take risks or work because of unfavourable weather. The vessels stopped on the Atmata near Šyškrantė to wait for conditions to improve.

The directorate said it was cooperating with investigators and providing relevant information and documents. It also said the employee had been issued all required personal protective equipment and that it was supporting his family and colleagues.

The Directorate of Inland Waterways is a state-controlled company responsible for managing and maintaining Lithuania’s state inland waterways.