Four in Five Crew Deaths Are Caused by Illness Rather Than Accidents

More than four in five crew deaths reported to Britannia P&I Club were caused by illness rather than by accidents, on an analysis of nearly 3,000 crew-related claims that shifts the focus of seafarer safety away from the incidents that usually define it.

The club's Crew Claims Report, developed with the maritime medical specialist Dr Katherine Sinclaire of MedSea, found that 81 percent of all crew fatalities were illness-related, while only 19 percent resulted from injury. Cardiovascular conditions alone accounted for 58 percent of illness-related deaths, making them the single biggest cause of crew fatalities identified in the analysis.

Drawing on claims reported during the 2023/24 and 2024/25 policy years, the report found that illnesses accounted for 60 percent of all crew claims, compared with 36 percent for injuries and four percent for fatalities. Abdominal conditions were the largest category of illness claim, with dehydration-linked kidney stones a particular concern for seafarers working in hot environments.

The injury figures identify persistent operational risks alongside the medical ones. Hand and finger injuries remained the most common category on board, accounting for 27 percent of injury claims, while more than one third of injury-related fatalities involved man overboard incidents. The report points to risk assessment, safe manual handling, clear communication and consistent use of personal protective equipment as the practical responses.

A second pattern concerns mental wellbeing. Suicides and cases of seafarers missing at sea disproportionately affect younger crew members. The number of cases remains relatively small, but a similar distribution has been observed across a broader four-year dataset, which is what turns it from an anomaly into a signal.

Jacob Damgaard, head of loss prevention at Britannia, said: "Maritime safety is often viewed through the lens of accidents and operational incidents, but our latest claims analysis reveals a different reality. The majority of crew fatalities we see are linked to illness, particularly cardiovascular disease, highlighting the need for a broader approach to crew welfare that places greater emphasis on long-term health and prevention."

He added that the findings on younger seafarers and mental wellbeing are a reminder that protecting crews requires attention to the personal and psychological challenges of life at sea as well as to physical safety, and that the club's focus is on helping members move beyond compliance towards prevention embedded in everyday operations. For a P&I club, claims data of this kind is the only population-scale record of what actually happens to crews, which is why the distribution matters more than any individual case within it.