Marine

Citation

(2006), "Marine", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 15 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2006.07315cac.001

Marine

20 February 2005Maharaj (Bangladesh)

At least 37 people have been killed and more than 150 are missing after Bangladesh ferry Maharaj capsized in a storm on a river near the capital Dhaka, police say. The ferry, carrying some 200 passengers, was sailing to the southern town of Chandpur from Dhaka when it got caught in a sudden tropical storm on the Buriganga river late yesterday. “So far rescuers have pulled out 37 bodies and efforts are on to salvage the sunken ferry,” said an officer at Keraniganj police station on the outskirts of Dhaka. District commissioner Harunur Rashid said about 150 people were missing 12 hours after the ferry sank. Survivors said the ferry, packed with people heading home for a holiday to mark the Muslim religious occasion of Ashura, was on a scheduled voyage when it sank.

20 February 2005. At least 74 people have died and more than 120 are missing after a ferry Maharaj capsized in a storm on a river near Dhaka, police and officials said today. The vessel, which officials said was believed to have been carrying some 200 people, had been sailing to the southern town of Chandpur from Dhaka when it was caught in a tropical storm on the Buriganga River late yesterday. Only a few people were known to have survived. “We have found 74 bodies, and the search for more bodies is continuing,” Saiful Haque Khan, a director of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority supervising the rescue operation said today. Most of the passengers and crew were feared drowned. “But we will not know the number of casualties until the ferry is fully salvaged,” an official on the scene said. He said the exact number of people on board was unlikely to be determined as most Bangladeshi ferry companies do not keep passenger lists and often pack vessels beyond their capacity. Rescuers piled up bodies on the banks of the Buriganga. Police used batons to disperse hundreds of mourning relatives who thronged the water’s edge, angry at the slow pace of the rescue. Survivors said the ferry had been packed with people heading home for a holiday to mark the Muslim ritual of Ashura. “We felt our ferry hit by another vessel in the dark. The ferry then listed on one side and began sinking,” one survivor said. Officials said they could not confirm the report of a collision but were investigating. A police officer on the scene said authorities were urging villagers to come to the site to identify the dead and take bodies home. “We think most of the missing people might be trapped in the ferry, which is expected to be pulled out of water in a few hours,” said a rescuer. Bangladesh Shipping Minister Akbar Hossain visited the scene and asked mourners to remain calm. He pledged a quick investigation and to punish those responsible. Bangladesh lacks salvage and safety equipment, and ferry disasters claim hundreds of lives each year

21 February 2005. The search for bodies from the disaster involving ferry Maharaj in Bangladesh was called off today as the confirmed death toll reached 117. A crowd of up to 5,000 people had gathered earlier today as divers searched for bodies in the capsized ferry in the Buriganga River on the outskirts of Dhaka. Navy Lieutenant Commander Mahbubul Rashid, who was in charge of the salvage operation, called off the search this afternoon. Eighty-two bodies were recovered yesterday with 35 more found today. “We have salved the vessel and searched it throughout. There are no more bodies trapped inside,” Rashid said. “The total number of bodies found is 117,” he added, as relatives called for the search to continue. The two-deck ferry capsized late Saturday (February 19) when it was hit by a pre-monsoon cyclone. Survivors have said they believed up to 500 people had been on board, although the official number of passengers was 167.

22 February 2005. Rescuers pulled out 24 more bodies from a river near Dhaka today, taking the confirmed deaths from ferry Maharaj to 142. “We have recovered 24 more bodies today from near the spot where the ferry capsized on the river Buriganga,” Abdul Bari, a senior civil administration official of the Dhaka district, said. Many people were still missing and a search to find them will continue, Bari said. Officials said about 20 people survived. Nearly 40 people still missing were feared drowned, rescuers and officials said on Tuesday.

23 February 2005. The death toll from a ferry disaster near the Bangladesh capital Dhaka rose to 149 today. “We’ve found 30 bodies today and we will continue the search tomorrow and Thursday if we have to,” said Dhaka district police superintendent Mohammed Bakhtiar Alam. Around 400 to 500 people were still at the scene yesterday looking for the bodies of relatives. Ferry Maharaj capsized late Saturday (February 19) when it was struck by a pre-monsoon cyclone on the river Buriganga.

21 February 2005Erika (Malta)

A Paris appeals court today gave the go-ahead for a trial over the sinking of non specific tanker Erika off the Brittany coast six years ago, an accident that left wide swathes of western French coastline blackened with oil. The court’s investigatory panel rejected a request by state prosecutors to require a new examination of the single-hulled vessel, which split in two and sank on 12 December 1999. French oil company Total SA (TOT) is one of 18 defendants who face allegations of wrongdoing in the case, which could go to trial in 2006 if other legal hurdles are cleared. An early investigation found that cracks in the 25-year-old vessel’s deck, caused by corrosion, were to blame for the capsizing and said its operator should have found the problem during safety checks. However, a later report conflicted with those findings and alleged that the cracks were located in the vessel’s tanks, prompting prosecutors to call for more studies before the case went to trial. The vessel spilled 10,000 metric tons of gluey oil onto French beaches.

25 February 2005Brother Joy (South Korea)

A Chinese fishing boat (Zul Dai A No.20137) sunk after colliding with a South Korean merchant vessel Brother Joy (5,402 gt, built 1986) today off the peninsula’s south coast, the Korea Coast Guard said. Two Chinese sailors were rescued by the Korean ship after it collided with the Chinese vessel but ten other crew members were still missing several hours after the incident, said Son Min-ho, an officer with the Jeju Coast Guard. The collision occurred at 13:15 hour, 93 km southeast of Jeju, reported local authorities. The Coast Guard and the Navy dispatched eight rescue boats and helicopters to the area to search for the missing Chinese sailors, but had to call off the search two hours later after thick fog and inclement weather, including waves that rose to 3-4 m. All of the crew from the South Korean commercial vessel were found safe, the Coast Guard said, adding that nine of the ten missing sailors from the Chinese vessel were reportedly in their bunks at the time of the accident. Officers are questioning both the Korean seamen and the rescued Chinese sailors to piece together the exact cause of the collision. The Chinese vessel from Zhejiang Province left Busan yesterday for Shanghai. As a result of this collision, the fishing vessel completely sank, leaking oil over an area some 30 × 200 mm from the site. Two out of a total of 12 crew members were rescued, but the remaining ten crew members remain missing. Brother Joy reportedly sustained minor damage but the exact extent of damage is unknown. Vessel is at present lying afloat anchored at the outer harbour anchorage, Jeju, Korea for inspection and investigation.

14 March 2005Rocknes (Antigua and Barbuda)

Norway’s national map service has been charged for failing to point out underwater rocks blamed for capsizing of bulk Rocknes that claimed 18 lives. The vessel ran aground and capsized in January 2004, in an inlet near the port city of Bergen while en route to Germany with a load of stone. The National Mapping Authority was aware of the newly discovered underwater rock formation that the vessel hit, but did not include a warning about it in its regular published listings that are used by vessel’s pilots and other navigators, the prosecutor said. The agency claimed it had provided adequate information on the hazard, and would prepare a report to the district prosecutor before he decides whether to proceed with an indictment.

16 March 2005Moawin (Pakistan)

The death toll from last week’s fire on board a Pakistan navy vessel in the port city of Karachi has risen to 35. Doctors said the condition of another 24 of the wounded remained critical and that there could be more fatalities. Last Thursday’s (March 10) fire initially claimed the lives of six people but left another 95 seriously hurt. Officials said a fireball engulfed the PNS Moawin logistics vessel during routine maintenance and may have been caused by human error. The dead include eight officers, along with other sailors and civilian workers. At least 60 people were still being treated for severe burns, officials said. Twenty-nine people have succumbed to their injuries since the fire broke out. The wounded are being treated at navy hospitals in Karachi and the southern Punjab town of Kharian, where the military hospital has a special unit for treating burns victims. The injured were evacuated from the vessel using helicopters and boats while a security ring was thrown around the area, correspondents said. The cause of the fire is still being investigated. The PNS Moawin, an auxiliary vessel that serves as one of two fleet tankers, was initially believed to be badly damaged but later reports suggested otherwise. “The damage to the ship was not much because there was just one mighty fireball,” a navy official said.

25 March 2005Polaris (Togo)

At least ten people are feared dead after they were trapped on burning vessel Polaris in Ghana’s main port of Tema. The BBC’s Kwaku Sakyi-Addo has seen one charred body and said he believes no-one could have survived the intense heat, which destroyed the vessel. The fire on the vessel has been put out, but thick plumes of smoke still waft across the port. Police suspect the fire began when a spark from welding work set fire to oil leaking from a pipe. The Greek-registered Polaris was being repaired in Tema when the fire broke out. At least three are confirmed dead because we have seen the bodies, said Ports Minister Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi. There were at least seven Ghanaians, one Russian, one Greek and one Guinean on board. Pipelines leading to Ghana’s only oil refinery have been damaged, but Mr Ameyaw – Akumfi says there are enough strategic supplies to avoid any short-term problems. Ben Owusu-Mensah, director-general of the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority, said the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) had shut down its pipeline, but residual oil in it was still burning. “The biggest blow is that the pumping room of the refinery has been completely destroyed by fire,” he said. Some 80 fire-fighters were involved in the operation to contain the blaze. A supply belt leading to an aluminium smelter was also damaged. The government is to set up a committee to investigate the cause of a disastrous fire that broke out on “Greek-registered” ship Polaris, at the Tema PSC Shipyard today that has affected the TOR, the Minister of Ports, Harbours and Railways said. Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi said the Committee would comprise officials of the Ministries of Ports, Harbours and Railways, Energy and the Interior, he said. Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi said the government would make alternative arrangements to import fuel as the main pumping line of TOR has been damaged by the ferocious fire that has been raging out of control. The Minister of Energy, Professor Mike Ocquaye today asked the TOR, to shut down immediately to prevent the spread of a ferocious fire at the PSC Shipyard at Tema to its premises. The fire that was detected at about 10:30 hour has affected the seawater-pumping house of the refinery, which serves as a coolant while plumes of thick black smoke have filled the air. The vessel has been burnt completely. Prof. Ocquaye who was at the disaster scene said that the fire had melted the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) conveyor belt in addition to a water pump. He said the disaster had serious insurance implications hence the presence of representatives of the insurers of TOR to assess the situation critically. The fire has been raging out of control and the Minister of Health, Major (RTD) Courage Quashigah, who rushed to the scene has sent SOS message to the public for assistance. Major Quashigah said he was contacting the Ghana Air Force, which has modern fire fighting equipment to assist. So ferocious is the fire that there are fears that other nearby vessels would be engulfed by the flame. At least 17 people, made up of 14 Ghanaians, one Guinean, one Greek and one Russian who were carrying out repair works on the vessel when it caught fire are trapped in the vessel and feared dead. Two workers on the vessel, however, were said to have swum to safety. The vessel has been undergoing maintenance work for the past three months. According to reliable sources, the fire was caused by spillage of oil from the TOR pipeline that had been leaking for the past one week. Mr Stephen Quansah, a mechanic, said that he and his colleagues were working on the vessel since morning when they heard the explosion. The fire was ignited when fire coming from repair works on the vessel caught the oil on the water. Personnel from the Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority and TOR are still battling to bring the fire under control.

25 March 2005. Three charred bodies have been retrieved from “Greek” fishing vessel Polaris, that caught fire at the PSC Tema Ship Yard at about 10:30 today. They have been burnt beyond recognition and were put in sacks to be deposited at the mortuary. Fire fighters, made up of firemen from the Ghana National Fire Service, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), TOR and Volta Aluminium Company (VACLO) are still working around the clock to retrieve the remaining 13 bodies including those of expatriates. Meanwhile, the TOR stated that there was no cause for alarm because the Bulk Oil Storage Company (BOST) had stocks of fuel that could last for three weeks while “TOR itself has a quantity that would take us for some time”. Mrs Aba Lokko, Public Affairs Manager, said to prevent further disaster TOR had cut lines to the disaster area and would be on the guard. She denied the allegation that TOR contributed to the cause of the fire because it failed to work on its leaking pipelines, which spilled oil onto the surface of the sea that came into contact with naked fire from Polaris that was being repaired. Mrs Lokko said TOR was so security conscious that it would not look on unconcerned for such important incident to go on. The fire, which started around 10:30 hour, destroyed the vessel, VALCO conveyor belt, TOR pumping station and the Volta River Authority (VRA) pumping house. The Kiku Cold Store and Dolphin Shipping Company office close to the conveyor belts were also razed down. The incident drew a number of Ministers, Officials of the GPHA and Security Personnel to the scene. Mr Baah Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, said efforts would be made to ensure that the TOR worked expeditiously to restore the situation to normalcy. The fire took about eight hours to control. The Tema Municipal Fire Officer, Mr Paul Tamakloe, who collapsed as a result for inhaling smoke is reported doing well at the Tema General Hospital. Security Personnel made up of the Police, the Navy and Firemen have been place on guard.

26 March 2005. Three charred bodies have been retrieved from the Polaris, the Greek fishing vessel that caught fire at the PSC Tema Ship Yard at about 10:30 hour, yesterday. They have been burnt beyond recognition and were put in sacks to be deposited at the mortuary. Fire fighters, made up of firemen from the Ghana National Fire Service, GPHA, TOR and VACLO are still working around the clock to retrieve the remaining 13 bodies. Meanwhile, the TOR stated that there was no cause for alarm because the BOST had stocks of fuel that could last for three weeks while “TOR itself has a quantity that would take us for some time”. Mrs Aba Lokko, Public Affairs Manager, said to prevent further disaster TOR had cut lines to the disaster area and would be on the guard. She denied the allegation that TOR contributed to the cause of the fire because it failed to work on its leaking pipelines, which spilled oil onto the surface of the sea that came into contact with naked fire from the Polaris that was being repaired. The fire, which started around 10:30 hour, destroyed the vessel, VALCO conveyor belt, TOR pumping station and the VRA pumping house. The Kiku Cold Store and Dolphin Shipping Company office close to the conveyor belts also burned down. The fire took about eight hours to control. Security Personnel made up of the Police, the Navy and Firemen have been place on guard.

26 March 2005. Fire-fighters today recovered ten more bodies from fishing vessel Polaris that caught fire in dry dock in Tema harbour, bringing to 13 the number of bodies recovered so far, Ghana News Agency reported. The vessel had been undergoing maintenance work at the dry dock for the past three months. Two companies near the shipyard were also seriously gutted by the fire. Firemen and workers with the Ghana National Fire Service, TOR, GPHA and National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) were today still searching for bodies. The fire affected the seawater-pumping house which serves as a coolant for Ghana’s only refinery causing an immediate shutdown. Energy minister Mike Ocquaye said it also melted VALCO’s conveyor belt, which is owned by US aluminium giant Kaiser, in addition to a water pump. VALCO had been preparing to reopen the smelter in the next few months, and is now counting losses of at least $3 million. The Managing Director (MD) of the state-owned TOR, Kofi Sarpong, said the refinery would deliver normal supplies and appealed to the public to remain calm. He said the Residual Fluidised Catalytic Cracking (RFCC) plant had been reactivated to ensure uninterrupted supply of fuel.

27 March 2005. After the retrieval of ten charred bodies relief personnel have since yesterday been engaged in pumping water out of fishing vessel Polaris with the hope of getting more trapped bodies. Water and debris have settled in the vessel and is making accessibility difficult but efforts by the personnel to get to the bottom of the vessel have not succeeded. However, the personnel from the NADMO, GPHA and the National Fire Service have not given up to hope because they would continue today to get to the bottom of the vessel to make sure that all bodies have been retrieved. The ten bodies have brought the number to 13, remaining four more. Luck was on the side of two survivors who had come from the vessel to drink water. Meanwhile, officials of the TOR have assured the nation of normal supply of fuel products because they have started operating the RFCC Unit to produce gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas. Flanked by all the management staff, Dr Kofi Kodua Sarpong, MD of TOR told reporters at a Press briefing at TOR that efforts were underway to restore the situation to normalcy.

27 March 2005. A dead body floating on the water near the burnt fishing vessel Polaris was retrieved today at PSC Tema Ship Yard at Tema and dispatched to the 37 Military Hospital. It was alleged that he jumped into the water from the vessel on the onset of the fire, apparently to swim to safety. It brings to 14, the number of bodies so far recovered, the other 13 were however, charred beyond recognition Efforts are still underway by firemen to pump water and debris from the vessel in the attempt to recover bodies that may have been trapped under it.

28 March 2005. Professor Mike Ocquaye, Minister of Energy, today stated that the nation needs a Strategic Fuel Reserve that could last for a longer period to serve consumers in time of fuel crisis. A venture of this nature would require enough funds from both government and Ghanaians. He was answering questions from newsmen as to whether the nation has enough fuel in stock, at a news conference held at Tema on the fire outbreak at the PSC Tema Shipyard, which has for now claimed 15 lives and engulfed Togolese registered vessel Polaris and other vital national installations, rendering them unserviceable. The conference, which was addressed by Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi was to inform the public about the disaster and efforts being made to bring situations to normalcy as well as announce names of the committee formed to look into the cause and find solutions. Prof. Ocquaye said Officials of TOR have met with experts to inspect the damaged facilities and offer advice as to whether they could be repaired or relocated, adding that work has already started to clear the debris in the area. Installations affected were the TOR pumping station and pipeline, VALCO conveyor belt, VRA pumping house and other adjoining companies – the Kiku Cold Store and Dolphins Shipping Companies. He allayed the fears of the public that the nation could be plunged into fuel crisis because, “we have enough stock to last for about seven weeks, while arrangements are in place to avert crisis.” Dr Kofi Kodua Sarpong, MD of TOR said the RFCC Unit, has already started producing 240 tonnes of gasoline a day. He said: “we have 109,000 tonnes of crude oil to take care of the immediate needs, while efforts are underway to take another 30,000 tonnes of gas oil from VITOL Oil Company, a British Oil Trading Company through Togo to serve the Central and Western Regions.” Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi announced that a seven-member committee under the chairmanship of Nana Owusu Nsiah, immediate past Inspector General of Police has been formed to look into circumstances leading to the disaster and find solutions to avert future occurrences. He said the committee, which has two weeks to submit its report is to investigate the cause of the fire incident, assess the extent of damage, examine the implications and make recommendations for action and future guidance.

29 March 2005. Workers of the PSC Tema Shipyard today said their Malaysian MD, Mr Rahin Bim Jaafa was responsible for the fire that destroyed Togolese registered fishing vessel Polaris and vital national installations. Sparks from the welding of parts of the vessel were believed to have caused the fire when they came into contact with an oil slick leaked from TOR pipeline on Friday. They said maintenance work on vessels, especially wielding was prohibited in the slipway area but was done at the Dock Two or alongside of the dry dock, “however for reasons best known to him, the MD allowed welding in the slipway area on a holiday”. They criticised the MD for ignoring all technicalities involved and allowing a private contractor to engage the services of novices to undertake the job instead of the workers. Meanwhile, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Harbours and Railways, asked the workers to remain calm as a committee was in place to enable them to express their concerns. A seven-member Committee under the chairmanship of Nana Owusu Nsiah, Immediate-Past Inspector General of Police has been announced and it is to be inaugurated tomorrow.

4 April 2005. The Nana Owusu Nsiah-chaired committee tasked to investigate, among other things, the cause of the fire at the PSC Tema Shipyard, on Good Friday that claimed at least 17 lives and destroyed various installations was just inaugurated and it is the belief of all that no stone would be left unturned to come out with a clean report on findings. News at the port is that the owner of fishing Polaris was the Greek Stelianos Pantelis Batikiotin, who was among those who perished. But on the day of the disaster, one Captain Kapas’ name was very outstanding as the owner who had purchased the ship from Lome. It is understood that sometime in September last year, fishing Altiars towed Polaris from Lome to Tema for dry-docking. The maiden name of the vessel was Eugenia, sold to Captain Alkaiviadis A. Kapas of Golden Europe Key Company Ltd, Tema, according to information obtained from the office of the Marine Marshall, Lome. The vessel, after undergoing complete overhauling and refurbishing, was preparing to go on a fishing expedition. The TOR is presently working hard to replace the burnt pipelines, connect treated water from the Kpong (GWCL) reservoir at Ashaiman to the crude distillation unit (CDU) of the refinery’s cooling tower as the seawater pumping station has been completely consumed in the fire. TOR is actually making assessment as to discarding the idea of using seawater to cool the CDU or pump for relocating the seawater, said to be cheaper at a different location so as to avoid the present catastrophe of destroying lines and pump hose at the same time. TOR Chief Executive Officer, Dr K.K. Sarpong said, “work is progressing faster and it is likely it will be completed before the deadline of two weeks given.” The VALCO was affected by the fire disaster, which razed between 400 and 500 m of its conveyor belt installation. It is being speculated that if VALCO had still been in operation, the disaster would have been avoided, for they patrolled the lines constantly. As things stand now, while all is set for them to resume operation, though under different management, they will have to reconstruct that portion of the conveyor system. PSC Tema Shipyard unfortunately became the first scapegoat, as its already aggrieved workers unleashed their anger at the management, blaming them for what could have been avoided, if safety personnel who were not working on holidays and weekends, because overtime was cancelled, had been allowed to work. The overtime payment has been reinstated since.

11 April 2005Lujin II (North Korea)

General cargo Lujin II (5,987 gt, built 1976) arrived at Djen-Djen roads, in laden condition, at 02:00, March 30, berthed 07:00 same day, commencing cargo discharge at 10:00 hour. The cargo on board destined for Djen-Djen consisted of 5,600 tonnes of soda ash in big bags of one tonne net each. Out of the said consignment, a total of 3,512 tonnes had been discharged and 2,088 tonnes remained on board. The cargo on board destined for Bejaia consisted of 1,557 bundles of wood, of which 341 bundles were shifted at Djen-Djen and stacked on the pier to be reloaded after the discharge of the Djen-Djen cargo. At 01:30, April 9, due to weather deterioration, the vessel was shifted to the roads where it dropped its anchors until 21:30, April 10. Thereafter, the vessel heaved up its anchors and sailed, heading northeast. At 06:50, April 11, due to engine failure, the vessel requested assistance in lat 37 01N, long 06 15E. At 06:55 hour, the harbour-master informed the Cross and prepared tug Nil II to stand by. At 07:45 hour, the master advised the harbour-master that the vessel dropped its anchor about 70 m from the coast. At 08:15 hour, the tug proceeded to sea heading to the vessel but, due to heavy weather encountered, returned back at 08:35 hour. By this time, all the concerned authorities were informed of the situation and tug Mazafran 6 sailed from Skikda and one helicopter from Boufarik proceeded towards the area. At 10:00 hour, the master informed the Coast Guards that the vessel’s rudder had touched the ground. At 10:38 hour, Mazafran 6 returned to Skikda. At 10:55 hour, last VHF contact was made with the master, who requested urgent helicopter assistance. At 11:25 hour, the Coast Guards were informed that the helicopter had returned to Boufarik. Thereafter, the local gendarmes remained monitoring the situation from the coast and informed the concerned authorities that the vessel was sunk at around 13:00 hour; up until 16:00 hour, out of the 22 crew members on board, one seaman was safely recovered, together with four bodies. The 17 other seamen remain missing.

12 April 2005. Understand 14 crew members from general cargo Lujin II have been rescued today with the help of a Spanish helicopter and a French tug which was in Skikda.

13 April 2005. General cargo Lujin II struck the rocks off Algeria during a heavy Mediterranean storm, leaving five crew dead and four missing with a search operation under way yesterday, national radio reported. The vessel experienced engine failure yesterday and broke in two when it was driven by a tempest on to rocks off Ras El Maghreb between Jijel and Skikda, two large coastal towns east of Algiers. A Spanish helicopter, four Algerian sailors and a rescue diver were looking for the missing crewmen and have already managed to lift 14 survivors trapped on the vessel to safety.

14 April 2005. General cargo Lujin II, which sank off Skikda Monday night (April 11), with the loss of up to ten lives, had several safety detentions and accidents on board, it emerged yesterday. But the operator denied that there were any structural problems with the vessel. Rescue services, aided by Spanish helicopters, were able to save 14 of the 22 crew. The survivors, nationals of Romania, Lebanon and Syria, were taken to local hospitals. There are conflicting reports of the death toll. Two bodies are thought to be on board and a further six were still missing yesterday. Two Algerian rescue workers also lost their lives. Lujin II was en route to Bejaia laden with 5,618 tonnes of timber and sodium chloride, according to official Algerian news agency APS. No environmental damage was caused by the incident, according to the Algerian authorities.

8 April 2005Rickmers Genoa (Marshall Islands)

Rickmers Linie has chartered another vessel to replace general cargo Rickmers Genoa, which was badly damaged in collision with general cargo Sun Cross last month. An explosion that followed killed the first officer, while 13 crew members died on the second vessel when it sank. The year-old multipurpose Rickmers Genoa, deployed in Rickmers Linie’s round-the-world Pearl String service, is now at an anchorage close to Shanghai and will need extensive repairs. The cargo is expected to be discharged later this week.

11 April 2005Solway Harvester (United Kingdom)

A vessel owner will stand trial today charged with the manslaughter of seven crew who died when fishing Solway Harvester sank in the Irish Sea. Company director Richard Gidney, of Gatehouse, Fleet, in Scotland, will appear at the High Court in Douglas, Isle of Man. The scallop dredger capsized in high winds and heavy seas in January 2000, in the Irish Sea 11 miles off the east coast of the island. Gidney, a director of Jack Robinson Trawlers, which owned the vessel, denies seven counts of manslaughter. Skipper Andrew Craig Mills, his brother Robin, and cousin David, died alongside fellow crew members Martin Milligan, John Murphy, David Lyons, and Wesley Jolly. The men were from the villages of Garlieston, Whithorn and Isle of Whithorn in the remote Machars area of Galloway in south west Scotland. A further charge of illegally trawling over the shipwreck site against fisherman Douglas White, who worked as a skipper for Jack Robinson Trawlers, has been dropped. The trial is expected to last up to six weeks.

13 April 2005. The owners of fishing Solway Harvester, accused of causing the deaths of the seven Scottish fishermen who perished when the vessel sank, allowed the boat to put to sea without a vital £300 deck hatch cover which could have helped to prevent the tragedy, a court heard yesterday. The vessel had a history of flooding problems and the crew had been forced to bale it out by hand because the pumps failed three weeks before the scallop dredger capsized and sank off the Isle of Man in January 2000. A deck hatch cover had been missing for two years, allowing water to pour into work areas. But no attempt had been made to remedy the situation by buying a new cover, costing only £300, it was claimed at the High Court in Douglas, Isle of Man. Simon Gedge, in his opening address for the prosecution on the second day of the trial of Richard Gidney, told the court the 75 ft trawler was in a dangerously un-seaworthy state when it foundered while running for shelter in a storm off the Manx coast. He said he would seek to prove that the tragedy had not been caused by the weather alone or a rogue wave, but by the actions and failings of the owner of the £1 million dredger. Gidney, of Gatehouse-of-Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway, denies allowing the Solway Harvester to go to sea in a dangerously un-seaworthy state, amounting to gross negligence on his part.

14 April 2005. Jury members in the trial involving fishing Solway Harvester are set to see the wreck of the vessel in Douglas Harbour on the Isle of Man. The jury will be told not to discuss what they see, even among themselves, and will be sent home for the weekend. The seven men and five women will initially meet at the Courts of Justice in the Isle of Man, before being taken to the remains of the trawler. They will be accompanied by Judge Andrew Moran, who has prepared the jury for conditions on board. He has warned them to wear old clothes and boots or heavy shoes. They will be given hard hats and protective suits. Small groups will tour the wreck, inspecting various features, such as the flood pumps, which have been labelled and named. No direction will be given from either the prosecution or defence. Next week, the trial is expected to hear from a succession of fishermen, who will be questioned about working conditions on the vessel.

7 April 2005Ta Mak Gol (North Korea)

General cargo Ta Mak Gol (6,711 gt, built 1984) sank off China’s north-eastern coast, killing at least two people and leaving 21 missing, a government official and news reports said. The vessel went down last night in the Yellow Sea some 40 nautical miles from the Chinese port of Dandong, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Dandong is near the North Korean border. By midday, today rescuers had found 12 people alive and recovered two bodies, said Xie Chenggang, an official of the Dandong Maritime Bureau. He said 21 people were still missing. Xinhua said ten of the people rescued spent at least 14 hours in the sea before being found. There was no word on whether any of them were in lifeboats or what condition they were in. The vessel was bound from the North Korean port of Nampo to Dandong with a cargo of iron ore when it went down, Xie said by phone from Dandong. He said the reason was under investigation.

7 April 2005. Twelve sailors from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were rescued today by Chinese border guards after their vessel (general cargo Ta Mak Gol) sank in the Yellow Sea. The cargo vessel carrying more than 8,000 tons of pyrite sank after running into a reef 40 nautical miles from Dandong at about 22:00 yesterday, said information from Dandong Sub-branch of Liaoning Provincial General Brigade of Public Security and Border Defence. The police with the Dandong Subbranch rushed to the site and organized an additional 12 fishing boats to help in the rescue operation aided by GPS system.

15 April 2005Andrew J. Barberi (USA)

A federal official involved in the investigation into the fatal crash of ferry Andrew J. Barberi in 2003 emphasised yesterday that the ferry system’s rules were so vague as to be essentially useless, a finding that could have implications for the pending criminal trial of a former city official who oversaw the system. The finding was presented to the City Council yesterday by the executive director of the National Transportation Safety Board, who gave an overview of the board’s inquiry into the 15 October 2003, accident in which 11 people died. The board released a summary of its findings on March 8. The executive director, Daniel D. Campbell, amplified some of the findings, including a conclusion that the ferry system’s operating rules were not even distributed or read, much less enforced. As part of its investigation, the safety board found that the procedures “were too ambiguous to be of use in addressing potential risks to passenger safety,” he said. Mr Campbell noted that the ferry system had not had a fatal accident since its creation in 1905, but he said “safety margins had been seriously compromised” before the crash. The findings could play a role in the trial of Patrick Ryan, the former director of ferry operations, who has been charged with seaman’s manslaughter and lying to investigators. Federal prosecutors have argued that Mr Ryan failed to enforce a ferry rule, in place since 1908, that requires two licensed pilots to be in the wheelhouse at all times. The city is paying for his legal defence. Only one pilot, Assistant Captain Richard J. Smith, was at the controls. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and is to be sentenced next Friday (April 22). In testimony yesterday, Iris Weinshall, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Transportation, reviewed what she called aggressive changes, including the purchase of safety equipment, the hiring of dozens of new employees and the development of a safety plan.

18 April 2005. A year and a half after the deadly crash of ferry Andrew J. Barberi, the trial of two former ferry officials charged in the case is set to begin in two weeks’ time. Jury selection will get underway on May 2 in Brooklyn Federal Court in the trial of the former head of ferry operations, Patrick Ryan, and former Port Captain John Mauldin. Ryan is charged with 11 counts of seaman’s manslaughter, one count for each of the 11 passengers who died. He is accused of not properly enforcing ferry rules. Mauldin is charged with obstructing the crash investigation. Michael Gansas, the master of the ferry that crashed, may testify against Ryan. Gansas agreed to co-operate with prosecutors in return for having the charges against him dropped. The pilot of the ferry, Assistant Captain Richard Smith, pleaded guilty to 11 charges of seaman’s manslaughter. He passed out at the controls of the vessel on 15 October 2003, and the vessel crashed into a maintenance pier at the St George Terminal on Staten Island. Smith admitted taking medications with drowsy side effects, but the National Transportation Safety Board’s report concluded that Smith’s incapacitation was “unexplained.”

20 April 2005. The National Transportation Safety Board has published its final report on the crash of ferry Andrew J. Barberi. The conclusions were announced by the NTSB last month in Washington, but only became available over the internet today. The report examines the 15 October 2003, crash that killed 11 passengers and injured 70 more, some severely. It examines the emergency response, the actions of the crew members and the cost of the damage to people and property. As for blame, the NTSB says the probable cause of the accident was, “The assistant master’s unexplained incapacitation and the failure of the New York City Department of Transportation to implement and oversee safe, effective operating procedures for its ferries.” The NTSB identified safety issues in the actions of the master and his assistant, medical oversight of mariners and safety management systems.