"UNSEAMANLIKE" working practices were used on a passenger ferry on which a deckhand died after falling overboard, an official report has said.

Ben Woollacott, from Swanley, died on August 3 last year when he fell from the River Thames Woolwich Ferry, Ernest Bevin, while trying to untie mooring ropes at around 6am.

The 19-year-old was in the final year of his apprenticeship when he was killed and had got engaged to his 18-year-old girlfriend, Jade Humphreys, just three days earlier.

A Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report said there was a "lack of suitable oversight" of the unmooring operation being carried out at the time of the accident.

It stated that Mr Woollacott was most likely dragged violently against the side of the Ernest Bevin before being carried overboard by a mooring rope, which had become entangled in the vessel’s propeller and was being wound in at a speed in excess of 20mph.

He suffered severe facial injuries and was almost certainly unconscious when he entered the water.

Mr Woollacott, a sixth-generation Thames waterman, subsequently drowned despite his lifejacket bringing him to the surface and the quick actions of his colleagues.

The MAIB report said: "A number of unseamanlike working practices were evident on board."

The incorrect wearing of lifejackets by senior crew, which included lifejackets being worn with the crotch straps removed and without the waist belt being fastened, set poor examples to junior colleagues.

The report said: "Had Benjamin been wearing his lifejacket with the crotch strap connected, under different circumstances (such as falling into the water without receiving additional life threatening injuries) it might have saved his life."

It added: "It would have been very difficult for Benjamin to adopt working practices that were at variance to those followed by his more experienced and mature colleagues."

The MAIB went on: "The unmooring operation was a routine task but it had not been captured by the company’s safety management system.

"Consequently no risk assessment for the operation had been conducted to assess and mitigate the hazards faced by the crew, and the very real hazard posed by the rotating propeller blades during the task had not been formally recognised.

"This situation was compounded by a lack of suitable oversight at the time of the accident."

Other safety issues identified during the investigation included the workboat not being suitably equipped for recovering unconscious people from the water

The report said an internal investigation and a review of its safety management system were conducted by the ferry operator, Serco Limited Marine Services, which resulted in control measures being taken to prevent a similar accident.