Marine

Citation

(2002), "Marine", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 11 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2002.07311aac.001

Marine

Marine

5 June 2001 – Anopolis (Malta)

Workers in a Constantza shipyard welding the hull of m tanker Anopolis (50,618gt, built 1976) set off an explosion and fire today, killing at least ten people, officials said. The explosion took place at about 13.00, and set off a fire that raged for an hour, said Serban Berescu, the port's deputy director. Initial reports suggested a welder's torch ignited a mixture of paraffin and mud which fuelled the blaze on the vessel. An official list submitted to the port authority showed 14 Romanians were registered to refit the vessel today. They were doing welding work to replace corroded metal panels on the side of the vessel, private Romanian news agency Mediafax reported. Gases from crude oil residue inside the tanker may have helped spark the explosion, Mediafax quoted an official at the Santierul Naval Constanta shipyard as saying. Five hours after the explosion, firefighters were still struggling to cut open the wreckage of the tanker to recover the dead and search for the four missing men.

At approximately 13.10, today, a fire broke out in cargo tank four, centre of m tanker Anopolis while hot work repairs were being carried out in a shipyard in Constantza. The subject tank was included in spaces certified gas free and passed suitable for hot works by a local surveying company and also by the shipyard's own staff. The latter certified the cargo tank four centre at 07.30, today. The incident unfortunately resulted in ten persons, in the employment of Constantza Shipyard, being killed.

6 June 2001 – At least 12 Romanian workers were killed in an explosion on an empty oil tanker undergoing repair work in Constantza yesterday. "Ten blackened corpses were scattered by the blast on the ship's deck", said one of the emergency service crew searching the tanker for four others believed to be missing. An official list submitted to the port authority showed 14 Romanians were registered to refit m tanker Anopolis in Constantza Shipyard. They were doing welding work to replace corroded metal panels on the side of the vessel. She was insured at Lloyd's and classed by ABS.

7 June 2001 – The Greek owner of m tanker Anopolis, at the centre of a fatal explosion in Romania, was waiting for details yesterday from officials at the shipyard where it occurred. At least ten shipyard workers were killed at the Constantza Shipyard on 5 June after an apparent explosion on board the aframax tanker. The vessel, part of the Avin International fleet of Greece's Vardinoyannis group, was dry-docked for repairs and a special survey, and had been in the yard for a while, according to the shipping company. Avins chief operating officer John Krousouloudis said: "The information from our people is that ten workers have lost their lives. We are very upset this has happened and we are looking into it, although at the moment we do not know the whole story". Mr Krousouloudis said that the vessel had been issued with gas-free certificates by the shipyard and local port authorities before the accident. Earlier reports had put the death toll at a minimum of 12 and had said a fire was being tackled on board the ship. "Our first impression is that the damage to the vessel is minimal and the deaths were most likely caused by smoke inhalation", said Mr Krousouloudis. But this is very preliminary speculation, he cautioned. More than 200 workers are understood to have been on board Anopolis, which is said to be mainly employed in the spot market. The fatal blast is understood to have originated in the No. 4 centre tank where a team was working inside the tank.

8 June 2002 – Romania issued arrest warrants yesterday for three men in connection with the deaths of ten welders in an explosion on m tanker Anopolis in Constantza. They are accused of forging papers that allowed repair work to begin on a vessel which officials believe was a death-trap because it had not been properly flushed of fuel fumes. The Constantza General Prosecutor, Traian Poenaru, said the man who signed a certificate declaring the Anopolis gas free, and two others in charge of repairs on the vessel, were wanted for causing death by negligence. Privatisation Minister Ovidiu Musetescu said the ship had been impounded while investigations continued. The tanker was a dangerous floating bomb, Mr Musetescu told Romanian television. Workers' statements show they were put under pressure to start repair work in unsafe conditions. The government will discuss compensation of lei 50m ($1,735) for families of the dead at yesterday's Cabinet meeting. Mr Poenaru said local expert Alexandru Dima would be charged with causing death by negligence for issuing a worthless safety certificate. Shipyard repair manager Cetin Ibram and engineer Mihai Zdru face the same charges for accepting it. Mr Poenaru said he did not rule out further arrests.

2 June 2001 – vessel sunk near Sandwip island, Bangladesh

An overloaded boat carrying nearly 150 passengers sank today off south-eastern Bangladesh, authorities said. Seven people drowned and more than 90 remained missing. Fading daylight and strong winds were hampering a search operation, said Omar Faruk, a local police officer. The large motorised wooden vessel was ferrying passengers to Sandwip Island, off Chittagong, when it capsized around noon, Faruk said. Passing boats in the busy shipping channel rescued at least 50 people but seven bodies were found.

7 June 2001 – Bunga Teratai Satu (Malaysia)

The inattention of the chief officer, distracted by family telephone conversations, was mainly responsible for the grounding last November of m container vessel Bunga Teratai Satu, which spent 12 days hard aground on the Great Barrier Reef, an Australian investigation has concluded. The report, by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, also notes that the Great Barrier Reef Reporting System, which has an alarm system designed to activate in the event of a vessel standing into danger, also failed to provide an alert as the operator was busy on other tasks. The report also casts doubts on the effectiveness of the bridge management system operated aboard the Malaysian International Shipping Corporation vessel as she headed south from the Torres Strait to Sydney with a cargo of 857 containers. The apparently well-qualified mate of the ship, in charge of the watch, failed to put the vessel on the chart at the time she should have been altering course, letting her run on for a full seven miles and 20 minutes before she ran aground at full sea speed of 20 knots onto the Sudbury Reef, her bow riding onto the coral for about 100m. The vessel, which was hard aground until refloated on 14 November, caused no pollution to the surrounding waters, although the reef was damaged by the impact and deposits of the ship's antifouling paint. The report found that the Pakistani chief officer, who had been at sea for 20 years, had been using a mobile telephone and talking to his wife, who was on the vessel with him on the wing of the bridge. The able seaman who put the vessel's position on the chart had returned to his bridge-cleaning duties and neither heard the GPS alarm system warning that the programmed alter-course had not been carried out. Considering the various defences which had failed to operate properly aboard the ship and ashore, the report accuses the mate of a very serious professional lapse in allowing himself to be distracted by his mobile phone. It suggests that it was a malign chance that there should be a short period of intense activity at the shore side reef centre, just as the Malaysian ship had entered the restricted area and while she headed towards the reef. However, it points out that, bearing in mind the limitations of the system and the circumstances prevailing on the bridge of the ship, it was unlikely that any advice provided by the reef centre under its procedures would have been able to prevent the grounding.

16 June 2001 – Ehime Maru (Japan)

The US Navy said today there would be no significant environmental impact from the planned salvage of m training stern trawler Ehime Maru, which was sunk by nuclear attack submarine Greeneville off Hawaii. The completion of the three-month environmental study clears the way for the Navy to contract with Smit Tak and others to plan and carry out the unprecedented operation this summer. "Although the Navy is confident it will be able to conduct the operation successfully, the recovery is not without risks and there is no guarantee of success", a statement from the US Pacific Fleet said. "If it is not possible to safely lift and move the vessel, she will be left at her current location in 2,000ft of water." The commander of US Naval forces in Japan, Rear Admiral Robert Chaplin, was to discuss the salvage operation tomorrow in Japan with relatives and shipmates of nine men and boys killed when Ehime Maru was sunk by the surfacing Greeneville, nine miles south of Diamond Head on 9 February. A total of 26 of the 35 crew, teachers and students on the high school fisheries training vessel from Uwajima were rescued after the sinking. The bodies of the nine missing are believed to be inside the vessel, which lies on a smooth patch of silt. Families of those killed have pressed the USA to recover the bodies of the missing. The Navy announced in March that engineers had identified a potentially feasible salvage operation, estimated at $40 million, which would involve bringing the wreckage to shallower waters to allow divers to search inside. The environmental assessment, prepared with help from the state and federal agencies, determined such an operation "will not result in significant environmental impacts", the US Pacific Fleet statement said. Plans call for Smit Tak to rig and lift the Ehime Maru to shallow water. The firm has subcontracted with Texas oil field services company Halliburton Co. for the lease of the diving maintenance support vessel Rockwater 2, scheduled to arrive in Hawaii in July, the Navy said. The Navy also will have aircraft on scene to identify any fuel or oil in the water and absorbent booms, skimmers and oil dispersants to contain or clean up any leaks, with the Coast Guard and state agencies standing by to help if needed, officials said. In the shallower water, a team of Navy and Navy-trained Japanese divers will thoroughly search for missing crew, personal effects and articles from the vessel such as her nameplate and anchors. Then, the vessel's compartments and openings will be closed and sealed so that Crowley Maritime Corp. can take her to a site more than 13 miles south of Oahu and leave her in more than 6,000ft of water, the Navy said. State and federal rules do not allow for the vessel to be left in shallow water or returned to where she now lies, officials said. The operation is scheduled to be completed in October.

18 June 2001 – The Navy will attempt, in August, to raise m training stern trawler Ehime Maru that sank after colliding with US Submarine Greenville. To salve the trawler, which rests 2,000ft below the surface, the Navy said it would send remote-controlled submersible vehicles to slide flexible plates beneath the fishing boat. If all goes according to plan, offshore construction vessels will lift the ship about l00ft off the sea floor and tow the vessel 14 miles before setting it down on a flat, sandy bottom in less than 150ft of water near the Honolulu airport. Navy officials said the operation should take two months and would include many safeguards against harming ocean life.

2 July 2001 – More than three dozen Navy divers and technical experts today will board vessel Kagawa Maru, the sister ship of the sunken m training stern trawler Ehime Maru, to enhance familiarity with the Ehime Maru's interior as they prepare for a recovery mission this fall. The Kagawa Maru is docked in Honolulu harbour this weekend (30 June- 1 July). Recovery dives are expected to begin in early September, according to the Navy's environmental assessment. The Navy, after reviewing decades of tide and trade wind data, decided that the August-September period offered the best weather conditions for such an ambitious salvaging operation. The first phase calls for the heavy-duty Ocean Hercules to do preliminary work, including cutting away two of the Ehime Maru's three masts and removing other obstacles such as cargo nets. Transponders also will be deployed around the sunken vessel to help direct the remotely controlled vehicles. Anything loose will be taken off the ship", according to Jon Yoshishige, Navy spokesman. Preliminary plans call for these items to be returned to Japan. The $40 million Ehime Maru recovery and relocation effort is expected to begin late this month. The Ehime Maru operation will include recovery of the bodies of the nine Japanese men and boys killed when the US submarine Greeneville collided with Ehime Maru. The 190ft vessel sank nine miles south of Diamond Head at a depth of 2,003ft, far below the capacity of any divers. The Navy's current plans call for a contract civilian vessel, using remotely controlled vehicles, to rig the 190ft Ehime Maru with special metal plates so it can be lifted in late August and dragged to a spot a mile off the Honolulu Airport reef runway. By mid-August the Navy's environmental assessment projects the Ehime Maru will have been moved to its shallow water reef runway relocation site. The Crowley barge 450-10 will then be situated above the Ehime Maru to serve as a diving platform for 60 Navy and Japanese divers. The diving operation is expected to begin in September and could take as long as 30 days.

12 July 2001 – M seismographic research vessel Ocean Hercules is expected to arrive in Hawaii on 13 July to start recovering m training stern trawler Ehime Maru, sunk by US submarine Greeneville on 10 February. The Navy-contracted maintenance vessel is coming from San Francisco, US Pacific Fleet officials said today. She will stay in Honolulu harbour for about two days before heading to the sinking site. The bodies of nine Japanese men and boys are believed to be inside the Ehime Maru, submerged 2,000ft about nine miles south of Waikiki. The Ocean Hercules will prepare the sunken vessel for m diving support vessel Rockwater 2, which will attempt to move the Ehime Maru to shallower water. The Navy hopes to then recover bodies or belongings from the vessel. Salvage experts say the estimated $40 million recovery operation will require co-operative sea conditions. The Navy has never salved a vessel the size of the Ehime Maru from such depths. The Rockwater 2 is in the Philippines and will arrive in Hawaii in early August, the Navy said.

17 July 2001 – M seismographic research vessel Ocean Hercules, dispatched to help raise m training stern trawler Ehime Maru, started preparatory work Sunday (15 July) for the planned salvage operation. A remote-controlled submersible aboard the vessel will remove the Ehime Maru's mast, along with other protruding objects that may interfere with the operation. The salvage effort initially aims to raise the vessel about 30m off the seabed and tow it to shallow waters near Honolulu International Airport.

19 July 2001 – A remotely operated vehicle has been lowered 2,000ft into the Pacific Ocean as part of an effort to recover bodies and other items from m training stern trawler Ehime Maru. The Phoenix III, part of the Navy-contracted m seismographic research vessel Ocean Hercules, is about nine miles south of Waikiki. The remotely operated vehicle has surveyed the sunken vessel and cut some wires from the mast so it can be removed later, US Pacific Fleet officials said yesterday. The Phoenix III, which was lowered into the ocean over the weekend, is also removing cargo nets, fishing gear and other equipment that may become a hazard to ocean life, the Navy said. The crew of 45 workers aboard the Ocean Hercules are preparing the Ehime Maru to be moved to shallower water by another vessel. Japanese and Navy divers will then attempt to locate the bodies and belongings of nine Japanese men and boys believed to be inside.

21 July 2001 – The Ehime Prefectural Government has provided the US Navy with a rough estimate of its compensation claim over the loss of its fisheries training vessel, Ehime Maru, prefectural government officials said. The undisclosed claim was submitted during Thursday's negotiations in Tokyo regarding the accidental sinking of the Ehime Maru by a US Navy submarine off Hawaii on 9 February. The sum was broken down into ten categories. These include the actual value of the sunken vessel and expenses incurred through the establishment of a unit to deal with the aftermath of the accident, they said. The Ehime Maru cost around 1.13 billion yen to build, while the prefecture incurred around 78 million yen in accident-related bills between February and late March. Ehime Vice Gov. Nobuyoshi Yano, lawyers representing the families of the Ehime Maru victims and US Navy legal representatives were among those present at Thursday's talks. Lawyers also exchanged views with the Navy representatives on their interpretation of legal precedents regarding issues such as the acknowledgement of mental suffering caused by accident. The next round of negotiations is scheduled to take place in early September.

22 July 2001 – The US Navy on Friday began removing the centre mast from fisheries training vessel Ehime Maru, the Japanese fisheries training vessel sunk off Hawaii in a collision 9 February with a US nuclear-powered submarine. The removal of the centre mast is part of the Navy's ongoing efforts to relocate the Ehime Maru to shallower water, which is set to begin as early as next month. Once the ship reaches its new location in waters off Honolulu airport, divers will be dispatched to recover the bodies of nine missing Japanese, including four teenage students from Uwajima Fisheries High School in Ehime Prefecture, who may have been trapped when the ship rapidly sank to a depth of 600m. Since Saturday, the Ocean Hercules, a vessel contracted by the Navy, has used a remotely operated vehicle around the clock to clear debris from the decks of the sunken ship in preparation for securing it and transporting it to shallower water. The centre mast must be blasted off as it impedes the positioning of a frame that is to be placed over the ship to move it. The operation will require almost 1kg of explosives. "The small charge was considered the safest and most controllable method to remove the mast", according to a Navy statement. Once the mast is removed, a crane will lift it from the sea floor to the surface. The mast may be moved onto either the Ocean Hercules or the Rockwater 2, the next ship that is scheduled to arrive early next month to begin the rigging and transporting of Ehime Maru.

19 June 2001 – New Renown (Liberia)

At least nine people died in an explosion on board s tanker New Renown (113,727gt, built 1976) at a shipyard in Malaysia's southern state of Johor yesterday. The online edition of the local Star newspaper reported the accident occurred when the men were welding the vessel at the Malaysia Shipyard and Engineering (MSE) yard at Pasir Gudang port. The explosion occurred at about 10.00, local time. Its cause is unknown and it remains unclear if anyone else was injured in the explosion.

20 June 2001 – An explosion ripped across empty s tanker New Renown, undergoing repairs at the Malaysian Shipyard Engineering, this morning, killing nine workers on board. The nine, eight of whom were contract workers hired by a private engineering contractor and the other an employee of the shipyard, were found badly burnt. They were also believed to have suffocated when the explosion occurred at quay 3 of the shipyard at 10.30. It is believed that the workers, all Malaysians, were involved in some minor repair works on the tanker when tragedy struck. The workers were about to finish laying new pipes and changing plates, with some welding work being done in one of the storage compartments measuring 12m x 12m. The repair work was scheduled to have been completed by today and the tanker was supposed to leave tomorrow. Eyewitnesses said the nine were trapped inside and by the time the first of three fire engines arrived from the Pasir Gudang Fire Station, shortly after receiving a distress call at 10.32, the workers were believed to have died from their injuries. The first of the nine bodies were taken to the Hospital Sultanah Aminah in Johor Baru by ambulance and arrived at the HASB just before 14.00. This was followed by "seven" bodies in a lorry and the last "two" in a police van.

The tragedy happened a day before New Renown was due to leave the yard at Pasir Gudang after a stay of one month. The eight Malaysians and one Indonesian, aged between 18 and 39, were doing welding work inside one of 20 tanks on board the vessel when they were trapped by a flash fire. "They were trapped and could not find their way out of the smoke-filled vessel's hull", local police Chief Superintendent Idris Ismail was quoted as saying. The men were engaged by Malaysia Shipyard and Engineering (MSE) to install a new piping system in one of 20 tanks on the vessel. MSE Chief Executive Officer Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman said the bodies were found on one of the work platforms leading to the tank's hatch. He said there was no explosion. Abdul Rahim said the blaze could have been caused by a gas pocket emitted by the previous cargo of crude oil. He said the welding work was being done with electrical equipment but declined to say whether it could have produced sparks. "The one month that the vessel has been here, she has been fully ventilated and other work has been going on well without any such incident, that is why we want to know how there can be gas inside", the chief executive said. The bodies have been taken to hospital for post-mortems and police have started an investigation. Noorazam Kharnis, a Johor fire officer, said 37 firemen took ten minutes to control the blaze and prevent it spreading to other sections of the empty vessel.

MSE Chief Executive Officer Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman said the next of kin of the deceased had been informed and arrangements were being made to send home the bodies of those from Sabah and Sarawak. Relating the incident, he said the nine were in a 15m x 20m tank undertaking welding work on the pipes used to transfer liquids from one tank to another. "There was no explosion but a flash fire, the cause of which is still unknown to us. The fire, which lasted about ten minutes, triggered our alarm system and several other workers who were near the tank alerted our emergency unit", he said. Abdul Rahim said about 30 MSE rescue team members rushed to the tanker, docked at quay 3, and when they reached it the fire had already extinguished itself. However, the rescuers had to wait for another 20 minutes before they could enter the tank together with fire and rescue department personnel. "They found the nine victims sprawled in the 26m high tank. Their safety suits were not damaged, their bodies were intact and there were also no severe burn marks on any of them. This has led us to believe that they died from suffocation, probably due to hydrocarbons, a result of chemical reaction between oil and other substances in the tank", Abdul Rahim said. He said that, based on preliminary investigations, the workers had adhered to strict safety measures and were also certain that the tank was fully ventilated. Asked why the rescuers had to wait 20 minutes before entering the tank, Abdul Rahim said the fire had caused intense heat which prevented them from going in immediately. Police have classified the case as sudden death pending further investigations with the help of the chemistry and fire departments. Johor Baru Deputy OCPD (East Zone) Superintendent Idris Ismail said initial investigations showed no foul play.

22 June 2001 – Alnar (Sweden)

Mv Alnar (299gt, built 1955), carrying more than 150 Liberians, is reported to be in trouble off the West African coast, The vessel's propeller is believed to have been fouled by fishing nets and she is running out of fuel and water. "The situation is desperate", said Eva Furberg, wife of the vessel's captain, Renning Kielberg. "It has got a net in its propellers. It does not have any more fuel and there is no more food or water aboard. People's lives are in danger." Togolese port authorities said that it had sent divers out to her to help disentangle the nets. According to the authorities the captain did not ask for help with fuel, water or food. The vessel's passengers were due to go to Ghana but were refused. The vessel was last seen on Monday (18 June) off the coast of Benin, where officials also denied it permission to dock. Shipping officials say the vessel's plight is partly a result of a recent criticism of West African countries over labour trafficking. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has expressed alarm about the Alnar passengers' plight, saying some may be asylum-seekers from trouble-torn Liberia. Nigeria has said it would let the vessel dock in Lagos. But the information seems to have reached Captain Kielberg only after he had headed in the opposite direction. The vessel is now thought to be off the coast of Togo. (Note – Alnar sailed Tema, 10 June.)

22 June 2001 – A vessel carrying up to 180 Liberian refugees that has been stranded off West Africa for nearly two weeks is in distress near the Togolese coast, port officials in the Lome said today. The ship had not been heard from since she left the port of Cotonou on Monday after being turned away by Benin authorities. Togolese port authorities said that the vessel's propellers were entangled in a fishing net. "A technical team has been sent this morning because the ship is in distress", a senior port official said. Nigeria earlier this week offered the passengers sanctuary after the boat spent nearly two weeks searching for a port which would accept them and the ship; the Swedish-registered mv Alnar had been presumed to be heading for Lagos. But Nigerian and UN officials said yesterday that there had been no contact at all with the boat, and it was not clear whether the ship's captain was aware of the offer. The refugees had failed to win permission from Benin to disembark there and were refused entry to Ghana last week after leaving the Liberian capital Monrovia the week before. Nigeria said it would allow them to disembark at any of its ports on humanitarian grounds. The Liberians are believed to be fleeing renewed fighting in the north of their country which has revived fears of a return to the brutal civil war of the 1990s.

23 June 2001 – Togolese port officials said they had sent scuba divers to assist mv Alnar, stranded with 186 Liberian passengers aboard and low food and fuel supplies. Ali Najombe, Deputy Berthing Manager of Lome port, said the Alnar had anchored about 7km off the Togolese coast. "We have sent scuba divers at around nine this morning to check the propellers", he said, after reports from the vessel that they had been snagged by a fishing net. Togolese Foreign Minister Koffi Panou, meanwhile, said: "We will render all assistance to the ship to carry on with its journey". The vessel was refused permission to land the majority of its passengers in Ghana and was refused permission to dock by authorities in Benin. The vessel has "twice been approved as a motor pleasure boat" by Swedish maritime authorities. Ghanaian authorities yesterday hinted they would allow the vessel to dock if the vessel made it to port. A maritime source in the Ghana port of Tema told AFP: "If the vessel arrives we will allow them to berth." Gilbert Agodugu, a Ghanaian colleague of the vessel's Captain Kielberg, who was in radio contact with him until Thursday morning, told AFP over the telephone yesterday that the situation on the vessel was very grim. "He had told me on Saturday (16 June) that he had only about $1,000 worth of food and 60 cartons of mineral water", Agodugu said. "With the number of people aboard it is only going to last one or two days more", he said. Captain Kielberg had earlier said that many of the passengers were ill with diarrhoea and vomiting, and medical supplies had run out. He said most of the passengers, including 79 children, are believed to be Liberians fleeing fighting in the north of the country.

24 June 2001 – Mv Alnar headed for Nigeria today. She left Togolese waters after divers there helped free her propeller from fishing nets, the vessel's master reported. Togo's President Gnassingbe Eyadema ordered key supplies, including 1,320 gallons of drinking water and milk, sugar, rice, bread and cooking oil, to be delivered to the vessel's passengers. Alnar has struggled to dock since she left Monrovia, Liberia, on 1 June. West African nations have refused to allow the vessel into their ports. Nigerian authorities said last week they would allow the vessel to dock there on humanitarian grounds. The vessel did not have enough fuel to proceed to Lagos. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees would donate the needed fuel, when the vessel stopped in Cotonou, Benin, on its way to Nigeria, the agency's representative in Togo said. The UN Refugee Agency believes at least some of the vessel's passengers might be asylum seekers.

24 June 2001 – Mv Alnar: According to the Swedish Board of Shipping, this vessel has neither a cargo certificate nor a certificate to carry passengers. The vessel also tried to send down an inspector, but the vessel departed for sea for unknown reasons. During this weekend (23-24 June), a Swedish reporter went out and meet the people on board and Master Henning Kihlberg in an attempt to discuss the purpose and problems with all passengers on board, who they are and their destination

26 June 2001 – Mv Alnar has arrived off the coast of Nigeria but has not been allowed to dock yet, despite government assurances that it could, port officials said yesterday. The vessel, carrying 186 immigrants mostly from Liberia, has been moored about 25 nautical miles from Lagos since late Saturday (23 June), port officials said on condition of anonymity. Port officials now say they have not received any official notification from the government to allow the vessel in. "As soon as everything is put in place we will welcome them," Dubem Onyia, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, said.

26 June 2001 – Mv Alnar, carrying about 160 Liberians, disembarked her passengers in Lagos, Nigeria, today after being stranded at sea for more than three weeks and being turned back by three neighbouring states. At least ten of the passengers needed urgent medical attention and two were brought down on stretchers from the vessel, short of food and water. Nigerian immigration and health officials boarded Alnar as soon as she docked at the Lagos port of Apapa. Most of the passengers were Liberians who said they were fleeing fighting or persecution in their civil war-scarred country. They had been denied entry to Ghana, their initial destination, and to neighbouring Togo and Benin.

27 June 2001 – A total of 26 days after fleeing their war-torn country, the odyssey of about 156 Liberians marooned on the high seas ended yesterday, as mv Alnar finally berthed at Apapa Port, in Lagos. Indications have, however, emerged that she might be detained over port charges. The refugees disembarked from the vessel at about 09.45. On hand to receive them were government officials, led by the managing director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Ibrahim Gwandu, representatives of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), led by Dr Adebayo Fayoyin, security agents and officials of the Red Cross, who provided medicare to the Liberians. At least ten of the passengers needed urgent medical attention and two had to be stretchered off the Swedish cargo ship, desperately short of food and water. Many on board said they had been drinking salt water to survive. Many passengers on the vessel cited conscription and fighting between the rebels and government troops in the Lofa county. Officials of NPA, Commercial Section, at 15.00 hrs yesterday, visited the Shed Six location of the vessel, to verify who will pay the mandatory port charges. Swedish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Lars Ekstron, who was at the port to witness the arrival of the vessel, denied responsibility for the payment of the port charges, following which NPA officials insisted that the captain and the vessel owner, Mr Henning Kielberg, would be held responsible. Ekstron said: "The only Swedish involvement is that the vessel is Swedish and the captain is a Swede".

24 June 2001 – vessel capsizes in River Ganges, India

At least 50 passengers are feared drowned in the River Ganges after a motorised boat capsized, officials say. The accident occurred early today close to Manikchack, in West Bengal's Malda district, some 250km north of Calcutta, the state capital. The boat was carrying about 125-130 passengers, of whom 75 have been rescued. The rest are feared drowned. The boat was clearly overcrowded. Officials say it should not have been carrying more than 60 passengers. Malda's District Magistrate, Ajid Bhathun, said that a number of people swam to safety. Five bodies have so far been recovered from the river, he said. Mr Bhathun added that divers from the Calcutta Port Trust were being brought over to recover bodies. Police and local swimming clubs are assisting. Although such accidents are not uncommon in West Bengal, this is easily one of the state's worst boat disasters in recent years. The accidents are mostly caused by river turbulence and poorly maintained boats, as well as overcrowding.

29 June 2001 – Pati (Georgia)

A press report, dated 26 June, states: "A Turkish court yesterday sentenced three members of the crew of a sunken vessel to prison terms of between 15 and 30 months on charges of causing the deaths of dozens of illegal immigrants through negligence". The Anatolia news agency reported that the court in Antalya found the Greek captain, Galanis Polizois, guilty in the first degree and sentenced him to 30 months in jail for the 1 January incident off the resort town of Kemer. Russian mate Alexander Leontiev and two engineers, Athanasios Kontis of Greece and Belendi Lika of Albania, received 15-month prison terms on the same charges. The defendants were the crew of mv Pati, which sank off Kemer on 1 January with an estimated 80 immigrants on board after hitting a reef in a heavy storm and breaking up. Thirty-three people, including the crew, were rescued, while divers recovered the body parts of at least 25.

29 June 2001 – Kursk (Russia)

The first vessels aiming to lift nuclear submarine Kursk from the seabed will leave next week with a view to completing the operation in September, officials said today. "Next week the diving support vessel will leave Aberdeen to go to the job site", said Frans van Seumeren, president of Dutch company Mammoet that Moscow signed up to carry out the operation. He told reporters that workers would start by cutting off the devastated bow where the submarine's torpedoes are stored. Special robots will be lowered to fulfil the task. Russian officials say the disaster was probably caused by a torpedo explosion which detonated most of the rest of the arsenal on board, although they have not reached a final judgement on what caused the torpedo to explode. Salvagers fear triggering an accidental blast from remaining unexploded torpedoes when they move the submarine's body, lying at a depth of more than 100m (350ft). Russia says it will deal with the torpedo bay later and without foreign help. Russian deputy navy commander Mikhail Barskov said the first stage of the salvage would begin between 9-10 July. Seumeren said the actual lifting of the Kursk is scheduled to take place from 15-20 September. A Russian company is due to provide Mammoet with giant pontoons specially designed for the task.

14 July 2001 –

A team of divers will arrive above the wreckage of nuclear submarine Kursk tomorrow night to launch the critically dangerous first stage in the fraught operation to raise it from the Arctic Ocean floor. Within the next few days they will begin work with robotic cutting instruments to saw off the badly damaged front section, which is loaded with an unknown quantity of torpedoes. Despite a powerful public relations campaign aimed at reassuring Russia and its neighbours that the salvage exercise will be relatively safe, there is some concern that safety standards are being sacrificed in the rush to fulfil a presidential commitment to raise the hull. The condition of the front section of the submarine is uncertain after almost 11 months lying corroding in the salty currents of the Barents Sea, but salvage experts warned that unless it was removed the whole lifting manoeuvre would be destabilised. Any mistake during the sawing-off process could trigger a torpedo explosion, further damaging the wreck and re-igniting fears of radiation contamination from the submarine's two nuclear reactors. Senior naval officials have conceded that weapons could explode during the slicing open of the vessel. "Everything is possible, considering that we are dealing with a submarine loaded with torpedoes", naval commander Vladimir Kuroyedov said recently. The Norwegian environmental group Bellona, which specialises in monitoring the nuclear problems of the Russian Navy, accused officials yesterday of rushing the work. "Even this first step of the operation is flawed", said a spokesman, Igor Kadrik. "We estimate that there are some seven tonnes of TNT explosives scattered around the bow of the submarine and a new explosion could be provoked when they try to cut away this section, which could cause damage to the reactors. The equipment they are using has never been tried in this kind of operation and some of it has never been tested underwater. This is what we define as rushed." Working in temperatures around zero, divers will set up equipment to wash out the sand and silt which has accumulated within the wreck in preparation for removing the submarine's bow. Once separated, the front section will be left on the seabed while the rest of the hull is lifted; officials have not decided whether or when the front section will be retrieved. The arrival of the international team of Russian, British, Norwegian and Dutch divers marks the beginning of a hugely expensive, extremely risky operation on an unprecedented scale, due to be completed, if everything goes smoothly, by late September, when the wreckage of the submarine is scheduled to be dragged to shore. The desire to establish what caused the two explosions in the submarine's torpedo bay – a technical fault, a collision with a mine, or another vessel – initially added urgency to the salvage operation. Officials said no conclusions could be made until the wreck was studied but the decision to leave the weapons arsenal on the seabed means that a full assessment of what happened will not be possible this year. Russia is under pressure to lift the wreck to avoid the risk of polluting the fishing area with radiation, which could start leaking once the nuclear reactors begin to disintegrate. "There is also a desire not to leave military secrets lying abandoned on the seabed, in a spot theoretically accessible to foreign navies", a military commentator, Yury Gladkeyevich, said. The rapidly organised consortium of Russian and international engineering firms has had little time to prepare. The deal with Dutch company Mammoet and Smit International was signed only two months ago, after an earlier consortium of international engineers pulled out, saying it was not ready to compromise safety in order to finish the work this year. Norway is particularly uneasy about the dangers that a rushed operation bring. "There is a risk of the raising operation itself going wrong, that they could, for example, lose the submarine. That could result in the reactor being more damaged", a spokesman for Norway's Nuclear Protection Board said. Government Web sites have set out to allay concerns, providing detailed information about the salvage plans. A massive floating platform, the Giant, is being modified in Rotterdam, equipped with 26 thick lifting cables, each of which is strong enough to lift 900 tonnes. Over the summer, divers will cut 26 holes in the hull of the Kursk using powerful underwater jets. When the submarine is ready to be lifted, the cables will be lowered from the platform and anchored in these holes, using large steel clamps. Sometime around 15 September, when the weather permits, the submarine will be dragged by the cables about 100m to just below the floating platform, and later towed slowly towards the port at Murmansk. The actual lifting stage is expected to take no more than about ten hours.

16 July 2001 – An underwater robot tested radiation levels around the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk today as divers got ready to descend to the seabed to prepare to raise the vessel. The operation to recover the submarine, which begins this week, is expected to take two months. The Norwegian vessel Maya, with Russian and Norwegian divers, international experts and high-tech equipment on board, arrived at the site off Russia's Arctic Kola Peninsula yesterday. Initial data from the robot indicated radiation around the Kursk did not exceed natural levels of background radiation in the Barents Sea, a statement from the office of Igor Dygalo, aide to the commander of the Russian Navy, said. "Today they will continue the examination of the site with the underwater robot. Only on completion of this investigation will the divers begin their work," the statement said. After the radiation checks divers will descend to the submarine to cut off its heavily damaged bow where the torpedoes were stored. Then a special pontoon, 140m long and 36m wide, will hoist the submarine on 26 cables to just below the sea's surface, and tow it to the Russian port of Murmansk. Russia has contracts with Dutch salvage company Mammoet and Rotterdam-based marine services firm Smit International to recover the Kursk, which is lying at a depth of 100m. The operation is expected to be completed by 20 September.

22 July 2001 – The first groups of Russian and British divers descended in shifts yesterday to the sunken wreck of nuclear submarine Kursk and began work to raise the vessel from the Barents Sea. "The divers went down to the Kursk in a diving bell and examined the outer hull", Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said on national television. "After installing equipment, they started work to cut holes in the third, fourth and fifth compartments of the submarine." More dives were planned during the day to make a total of 26 holes along the 155m body of the submarine for gripper devices that will raise it on cables beneath a giant barge in mid-September.

4 July 2001 – Amoil

Following received from Malta Radio: "Following intercepted on 2182khz at 20.13, local time, 3 July: Mayday relay, mv Amoil in distress, making water in lat. 37 34.4N, long 18 58.2E, 80 nautical miles west of Cape Skinari with 650 persons on board". Intercepted at 22.00, local time, from Crotone Radio, that situation on board is under control and that Amoil is proceeding to Italy.

The Italian Navy today launched an operation to rescue some 650 illegal immigrants stranded on a ship in the Ionian Sea, an official said. The vessel, Amoil, had run out of fuel and was drifting some 60 miles from the port of Crotone, when it issued a distress call. No further details on the ship were available. The Navy was moving the immigrants, believed to include many Kurds, onto a frigate. About ten sick people were taken to shore by speedboat.

10 July 2001 – Sungai Haumun

Two passenger vessels collided on a river in Indonesia's southern Sumatra province today, killing at least 13 people, officials said. Seven people were missing after the accident on Musi River, near Palembang, 250 miles north-west of Jakarta. Passenger vessel Sungai Halimun was carrying 171 passengers and crew when she struck a ferry belonging to the state-owned Pertamina oil company, port official Sarifudin Abdurrahman said.

18 July 2001 – Arctic Rose (USA)

Three investigators from the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation left Unalaska on Sunday (15 July) night on a chartered commercial fishing vessel to locate the wreck of mfv Arctic Rose. They expect to arrive at the scene, approximately 200 miles north-west of St. Paul Island, about 22.00, Tuesday (17 July). The Coast Guard approved spending $200,000 for the search. The intention is to locate the vessel using sonar and then send an unmanned submarine down. "It might give some answers as to what happened, give a little closure to the families", said Steve Toomey. "Maybe we can do something to prevent it from happening again." The Arctic Rose should be easy to locate, on a featureless plain 450ft deep", said sonar technician Richard Dentzman. The first sonar sweep will search a two-mile-long, 1,000ft-wide area between the spot where an emergency locator signal was first detected and the area where an oil slick was spotted, Dentzman said. The site is about 775 miles south-west of Anchorage. If the Arctic Rose is not quickly located, technicians are prepared to work 12-hour shifts looking for it with a sidescan sonar device towed 60ft above the sea floor, Dentzman said.

19 July 2001 – Coast Guard investigators confirmed today they have located the wreckage of mfv Arctic Rose, which sank in the Bering Sea last April with 15 people on board. Using a sonar device towed behind a trawler, the vessel was located early today more than 450ft below the surface and about 200 miles north-west of St. Paul Island, said Captain Ronald Morris of the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation. An unmanned submarine with a camera reached the vessel at about 09.30 hrs and clearly showed the vessel's name on the hull. The Coast Guard sent the robotic camera down after a short memorial ceremony that included dropping a wreath over the Arctic Rose.

19 July 2001 – Coast Guard investigators yesterday located the wreckage of mfv Arctic Rose that sank in the Bering Sea in April. The crew searching for Arctic Rose got a brief view of the sunken vessel yesterday before the remotely operated vehicle transmitting pictures got tangled in the wreckage. The cable controlling it snapped, and the $100,000 search vehicle was lost under 450ft of water. "It's just incredibly disappointing", said Richard Hansen, owner of Maritime Consultants, the Puyallup, Wash-based company that owned the search vehicle. "We have very little other than we know it's the Arctic Rose and we saw a few things. We were only able to do a small percentage of what our mission was. Very disappointing", Hansen said. The wreckage was found using sonar equipment early yesterday about 200 miles north-west of St. Paul Island, said Captain Ronald Morris of the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation. The Coast Guard team investigating the sinking hoped to get a look at the vessel to learn why she went down. The remote vehicle was able to study the wreckage for about an hour before it broke away, giving three members of the Coast Guard panel images of the Arctic Rose sitting upright on the ocean floor. "We saw the bow and we saw some of the pilot-house. But we really wanted to see the whole exterior of the vessel", Morris said. "The goal of the mission was to try to take a look at the hatches, the windows, the water-tight doors, overboard discharges, the rudder, the stern and to try to get an overall sense of what the vessel looked like." After the remote video camera was lost, the sonar was used to gather additional images of the wreckage before the vessel headed back to Unalaska.

21 July 2001 – Coast Guard investigators probing the sinking of mfv Arctic Rose will try again to view the sunken vessel next month with the aid of a remotely-operated video camera. Investigators managed to locate the vessel Wednesday morning (18 July) in 428ft of water, about 775 miles south-west of Anchorage, Alaska. However, their search for clues to why it sank ended when the cable controlling the camera snapped. A spokesman said technicians managed to record about 15 minutes of video of the sunken vessel before the cable broke. When the remote video camera was lost, the sonar equipment was used to take additional images of the Arctic Rose. The spokesman said that, from the sonar images, it appears the vessel's fishing nets were not deployed when she sank. She went down so quickly the crew did not even have time to send a distress signal.

23 July 2001 – Solway Harvester (UK)

The official report into the sinking of mfv Solway Harvester has ruled there is insufficient evidence to bring charges of corporate manslaughter against the vessel's owner, it was reported yesterday. A leaked copy of the report is also said to reveal that investigators have discounted early theories that the vessel sank due to a collision with a submarine. But it highlights a shocking chain of events which led to the loss of the scallop dredger and her seven crew in January last year. The report is said to blame lapses in safety inspection, a general neglect of the vessel, poor crew training, inadequate lifeboats and atrocious weather.

27 July 2001 – Manica Alpha (Cyprus)

The death toll from capsized ro-ro mv Manica Alpha (811gt, built 1978), Quelimane for Maputo, cargo 1,700 logs, near Zonguene has risen to seven, as rescuers pursue their search for more bodies, Radio Mozambique said today. One survivor of the 14-member crew has been rescued so far. The seven drowned after their vessel capsized late Monday (23 July) in high seas caused by unusually strong winds that have blown across southern Mozambique since the weekend. Rescuers had been hampered by poor weather conditions, but the winds had eased by today.

28 July 2001 – Maritime authorities have found the wreckage of ro-ro mv Manica Alpha that sank off the Zongoene coast. The vessel that sank last Monday (23 July) was found at the mouth of the Limpopo River with three bodies trapped in her, taking the known death toll to ten. There were 14 crew members and one passenger on board. There are three survivors to date. It is understood rescue workers will continue their search for at least two more days. Bad weather has been blamed for the sinking of the vessel.