The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 5 plus 7 letter word TEN GREEN BOTTLES
I've seen this crossword clue in The Daily Telegraph
T
E
N
G
R
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B
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T
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S
More clues leading to the result TEN GREEN BOTTLES
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Number of accident-prone vessels suspended" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case number of accident-prone vessels suspended = ten green bottles.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.