the Second Officer on board the Maersk Patras, inbound for Montreal, fell overboard Sunday morning near the Les Escoumins pilot station around 0930 am. the coast guard called off the search at 8pm. The ship is due in Halifax, after the Montreal Call.

The search was conducted by several coast guard vessels, boats from the Maersk Patras, and RCAF SAR aircraft. Its currently unclear what happened. the officer likely was not wearing a life jacket aboard the ship, and the fall was likely high enough to incapacitate him.

UPDATE May 23:
The ITF Conducted an investigation and discovered that the 2end officer went overboard while conducting lashing operations. the crew were removing lashings on containers prior to arrival in montreal, presumabley to speed discharge. The officer was reported to be handling a long lashing rod, able to reach the third row of containers in the stack, when he went overboard. Those rods are often used on the outside ends of the stack, and our both heavy and long.

the ITF also identified the 2nd officer as Ravindu Lakmal Pieris Telge, a Sri lankan national. His body has not yet been recovered. Apparently having crews lash ships in the river, while under way is a common practice at the port of Montreal. besides being dangerous, the practice increases the chance containers can go overboard in the river, as they are not properly secured when the ship leaves port.