Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch shows the difficulties of crab fishing on the Bering Sea. The show illustrates the dangers of the Alaskan open water, and more than a few crew members have died while on the job. Here’s a list of the top five worst injuries seen on Deadliest Catch where the injured crew member lived to tell the tale.
The F/V Wizard deckhand Roger Schlosstein was the recipient of two major freak accidents on Deadliest Catch. First, Schlosstein’s hand smashed against a rail after the rope slipped out while running the block, leaving his hand numb and bruised. The rope was attached to an 800-pound crab pot.
After this incident, Captain Keith Colburn moved Schlosstein to the sorting table — a safer job. But Schlosstein experienced another injury while sorting crabs after the crab pot came loose and smashed him against the table. Thankfully, Schlosstein didn’t break his back. He said the crab pot hit him “right in the middle of my butt cheeks and right above the old dingus.”
4. Mahlon Reyes had a torn Achilles tendon
Tearing an Achilles tendon is no joke, and this happened to Deadliest Catch star Mahlon Reyes. Reyes needed immediate assistance one night while crabbing when he tore the tendon, resulting in several crew members rushing to his aid and calling Captain Wild Bill Wichrowski for help. Production had to stop due to Reyes’ injury.
“It felt like some somebody hit me in the back of the leg with a g*ddamn crowbar,” Reyes said at the time. “It just like, popped.”
3. Keith Colburn suffered a head injury when repairing his boat in ‘Deadliest Catch’ Season 10
Captain Keith Colburn was put through the wringer in Deadliest Catch Season 10. He submerged himself in the Alaskan waters to repair the hull of the F/V Wizard, but the 500-pound vessel hit his head, resulting in a head injury. The crew pulled him back on the boat after the incident, and Colburn was barely coherent for over an hour. The crew looked at his skull to see the bloody injury. Thankfully, Colburn didn’t sustain any lasting damage from the freak accident.
2. A piece of welded steel pinned Francis Katungin against a railing
Crew member Francis Katungin was pinned against a railing due to a dislodged crab pot in Deadliest Catch. When the incident occurred, crew members were setting up crab pots while the seas were rough, and a large wave dislodged a pot completely. Katungin was in the line of fire and pinned against a railing by a large piece of welded steel as a result. Show producer Todd Stanley stepped in to provide first aid when the freak accident occurred.
At the time of the incident, it wasn’t clear how much damage Katungin sustained. But the steel likely shattered his pelvis and broke his hip. The captain of the boat then had to pilot the vessel for 16 hours in order to get help from a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter.
1. Cory Rhodes’ leg was crushed by a crab pot during the ‘Deadliest Catch’ Season 15 finale
One of the most gruesome injuries happened during the Deadliest Catch Season 15 finale. A 1,000-pound steel pot crushed a deckhand’s leg, resulting in the Coast Guard coming to the rescue for a medical evacuation. Graphic images showed the deckhand’s leg wrongly bent 90 degrees. The show’s narrator claimed he “took the falling force of a 1,000 lb. steel crab pot to his left leg, twisting the flesh and bone, resulting in a gruesome spiral fracture of his fibula and tibia.”
Elements of this story were first reported by Yahoo, Alaska TV Shows, TV Insider, and Decider.
Deadliest Catch Season 19 airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Discovery Channel.
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