Marine

Citation

(2003), "Marine", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 12 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2003.07312dac.002

Marine

Marine

28 August 2002 – Kristal (Malta)

A legal case against the operator of tank Kristal, which sank last year with the loss of 11 lives, remains on hold pending publication of a final report into the casualty by flag state Malta. Two surviving crew members, together with the families of seven Pakistani seafarers who died in the tragedy, are ready to take legal action for negligence against the ship's operator, Monaco-based IC Shipping. But the case is stalled until Malta's conclusions are released. "There is a certain stagnation at the moment because people are waiting for the final report," said one source. "A lot hinges on this document." Lino Vassallo, executive director of merchant shipping at the Malta Maritime Authority, said, investigators were currently assessing feedback following the release of a draft report to interested parties earlier this year. "The report is being reviewed and our technical department is considering the comments from the interested parties," Mr Vassallo said. He declined to go into any detail on the work in progress or speculate on when it might be completed, but stressed that Malta would publish the full investigation once it was finished. The confidential draft report pointed to incorrect loading as a root cause of the loss and suggested a breakdown of the safety management system on board. The Maltese authority claimed tighter safety systems might have enabled the operator to detect the loading problem and raise the alarm. Despite the delay in finishing its investigation, the Maltese authority has been widely praised for addressing many difficult and sensitive questions in an effort to establish why the ship sank. One source close to the investigation described Malta's draft report as "a brave and transparent start" and applauded the attention paid by the flag state to ISM-related issues, "which is something of a watershed".

31 August 2002 – Kenangan (Indonesia)

A press report, dated today, states: An explosion has torn through passenger Kenangan in eastern Indonesia, killing at least 20 of about 200 people on board. The vessel caught fire and exploded at 2100 local time (1300 UTC), yesterday, half an hour after leaving the port of Baubau, bound for a nearby island. At least 69 people have been rescued, but the vessel's master and one other crew member were among those unaccounted for. Rescue workers were continuing to search for survivors as the exact number of passengers was not known. Fewer than 50 people were listed on the vessel's manifest. Abdullah Arfah, a manager at Baubau port, said the blast was an accident and originated in the engine-room. He was unable to say what had caused it.

31 August 2002 – Rescuers were searching for survivors today after an explosion holed and sank crowded wooden passenger Kenangan, 91 tons gross, in eastern Indonesia, killing 20, emergency services said. Fire swept through the vessel before it went down in 15 minutes late yesterday just off Baubau port in southeast Sulawesi, said rescue co-ordinator Rocky Asikin. Asikin said the blast was not from a bomb. He said initial indications suggested the explosion came from the engine-room. State news agency Antara reported around 200 people were on board the vessel, which was heading to a nearby island when it sank, some 1,500km east of the Indonesian capital Jakarta. Local fishermen and emergency craft had rescued 69 passengers from waters close to where the vessel sank, Asikin said.

3 September 2002 – Authorities in South Sulawesi yesterday called off the search for survivors from passenger Kenangan, which caught fire and exploded in waters adjacent to the province last Friday (30 August), leaving at least 16 people dead. The search was halted despite the fact that the vessel's master was still missing. It remained unclear whether he was killed in the accident or had gone into hiding. Baubau police chief Adj Sr Comdr Sarbini said yesterday that search and rescue workers had halted their operations in South Sulawesi's waters after all of the victims were recovered, except for the master. "As of now the vessel's master has not yet been found. He is potentially an important source of information who could help explain the cause of the tragedy," Sarbini told The Jakarta Post. The search and rescue operation involved two speedboats and three vessels close to the site of the explosion, some two nautical miles from Batu port, Baubau. Earlier reports said at least 16 people, including three children, were killed in the accident and 85 people rescued. A source at Murhum port, Baubau district, said the death toll had risen to 20. Sarbini refuted the figures and claimed that only 13 of the 80 passengers on board had died and seven others were injured. It was reported earlier that around 200 people were on board the vessel plus its nine-man crew, and it was loaded with gasoline and diesel fuel. The passengers were mostly migrant workers returning from Malaysia. The workers were heading to Talaga, a district where many of the locals work overseas. Sarbini said all the dead had been buried, with the survivors evacuated and handed over to their respective families. Officials in Makassar said the vessel caught fire and then exploded about one hour after sailing from Batu to Kabaena island in southeast Sulawesi. The vessel sank after exploding. It remained unclear yesterday what had caused the tragedy. Local police were questioning seven crew members who survived the accident. Sarbini blamed the missing master for the tragedy and said police were continuing to look for him, although the search for survivors had been halted.

4 September 2002 – Kota Hadiah (Singapore)

The master of cc Kota Hadiah involved in a collision with dredger AM Vella off Hong Kong in which eight seamen died told a judicial inquiry into the accident yesterday the two vessels had agreed on how to pass each other just three minutes before they crashed. Muhammad Sarwar, master Kota Hadiah, told Eastern Court the dredger had changed its light signals several times and had altered course after the agreement to pass "port-to-port" had been made. The hearing heard Kota Hadiah left from Shekou heading for Singapore. On 12 March it entered Hong Kong waters off Tap Shek Kok, North Lantau, when Hong Kong harbour pilot Howard Lau Hon-kwong boarded the vessel. AM Vella, with 15 crew, had completed dredging mud from Kwai Chung Terminal Four and was taking it to a Chek Lap Kok dumping site, the inquiry heard. But the two vessels collided west of Ma Wan, which the inquiry was told was an accident black spot for marine traffic. AM Vella sank and six Russian and two Hong Kong crew members died. Four of the bodies were recovered the next day but the other four have not been found. Testifying yesterday, Captain Sarwar, of Kota Hadiah, said pilot Lau had called the dredger via the radio at 2140, 12 March as he saw it approach. The Pakistani master, who the inquiry heard had nearly 30 years of sailing experience, said the dredger agreed to pass "port-to-port". But afterwards he said he saw the dredger change its light signals a few times and alter course. He said he followed pilot Lau's advice to reduce speed and that his ship, Kota Hadiah, was in the process of stopping. But three minutes after pilot Lau and the dredger had communicated, the vessels collided, the inquiry heard. Counsel for the Pilotage Authority Cheung Yiu-leung said the authority had decided to hold the inquiry after considering a preliminary investigatory report written by department officer Captain Li Yiu-kwong that suggested pilot Lau was guilty of misconduct in the discharge of his duty. The inquiry is being held before a board of investigation co-chaired by Magistrate David Thomas, a principal marine officer at the Marine Department responsible for vessel traffic services, Sin Tak-cheung, and chairman of the Hong Kong Pilots' Association, Captain Pang Kin-wing. It continues today.

1 September 2002 – Baitarani River, India

At least 50 people, including a dozen children, were feared drowned today after a vessel capsized in a river in eastern India, a government official said. A vessel carrying around 80 people toppled in the swirling waters of the rain-swollen Baitarani River in the Jajpur district of eastern Orissa state, said Kashinath Sahu, the district's top government official. "Thirty people managed to swim ashore, but the rest were swept away by the heavy current," Sahu said. Only one body was recovered immediately from the accident site, about 80 miles north of Bhubaneshwar, the state capital. Rescue workers have started searching downstream for more people from the vessel. Naval teams were also rushed to the area to help with rescue efforts. The overloaded vessel, which was carrying people from Solampur village to Devighat village across the river, was sucked into a whirlpool after hitting a submerged sand mound in the middle of the river, the official said, quoting a survivor. Sahu did not know if the survivors included any children. Most of the children were feared to have been swept away, he added. Survivors said about a dozen children died. Water levels in the Baitarani River have been rising following heavy rains earlier this week, but it had not rained in the past two days in the area where the accident occurred, Sahu said, adding he did not expect the weather would hold up the rescue efforts.

11 September 2002 – Express Samina (Greece)

Nearly two years after the passenger ro/ro Express Samina tragedy that cost the lives of 80 people and shook Greece, a council of judges has ruled that six crew members should stand trial on misdemeanour charges, not the original felony charges. Relatives of victims expressed outrage and said they would go to the Supreme Court to appeal against the ruling, which also found that officials of the shipping company were not responsible. Express Samina sank off Paros in a storm on the night of 26 September 2000, after it hit an islet just outside the port. Captain Vassilis Yiannakis and First Mate Anastassios Psychogios spent 16 months in pre-trial detention, facing multiple counts of murder with possible malice (a felony) and causing a shipwreck. Last June, public prosecutor Napoleon Pantioras reported to the Aegean Council of Appeals Court Judges that the sinking resulted from the criminal negligence, incompetence and gross indifference of six crew members. But he found no malice. It emerged yesterday that the charges had been converted from felonies to misdemeanours, meaning that a conviction will lead to a sentence of less than five years and the option of paying money instead of serving time. The council also decided that Minoan Flying Dolphins, the ferry company, board chairman Costas Klironomos and board member Nikos Vikatos should not stand trial. Pantioras had proposed that they and two inspectors should face misdemeanour charges for falsely stating that the vessel had sufficient life jackets. The judges found that the 34-year-old ferry was seaworthy and that she had enough lifeboats and life vests but that they were old and in poor condition. The captain, first mate and officers Giorgos Triandafyllos and Gerasimos Skiadaresis are charged with negligence leading to the sinking of the ship and the loss of 80 lives. Captain Yiannakis allegedly did not ensure that there was a crewman continually serving as lookout, he did not take charge himself in the face of danger, had not ordered regular emergency exercises, had not sounded a general alarm and had not shown passengers how to don life vests. First Mate Psychogios is charged with, among other things, showing complete indifference, not having a lookout and being absent for more than 25 minutes at a critical time. A Piraeus prosecutor is to examine how inspectors approved the vessel's lifesaving equipment.

27 September 2002 – Le Joola (Senegal)

Senegal's Prime Minister, Mame Madior Boye, said at least 41 people have died when ferry Le Joola (2,087gt, built 1990), carrying nearly 800 people sank overnight off the Gambian coast. A total of 32 survivors were known to have been plucked out of the water, she added. The ferry had been sailing from the Senegalese province of Casamance to Dakar. A Senegalese vessel owner questioned by a private radio station said he understood that rescue boats had picked up 50 people. According to various sources, about 80 people in all appeared to have been rescued. The Le Joola was equipped to carry a maximum of about 550 passengers, according to harbour staff in Dakar and Casamance. Ms Boye said that 796 people were listed as being on board when "the boat capsized, rolling over onto its side under the combined impact of strong gusts of wind and rain". "For the moment, the state of the vessel has not been called into question," the prime minister added, referring to the seaworthiness of the ferry. Some sources have said, in unconfirmed reports, that it may have sunk because of engine problems.

27 September 2002 – Ferry Le Joola sank off Gambia, West Africa, in a fierce storm, killing 41 and leaving at least 723 passengers and crew reported missing today. Another 32 crew members and passengers were rescued, after the ferry went down at about 2300, 26 September. Authorities said a passing Italian vessel retrieved at least some of the survivors from the state-owned ferry, which had been crossing from north to south Senegal with 796 people on board. Media reports said the ferry had undergone repairs and had only recently returned to service after months in dock. Angry men thronging the port denounced authorities, claiming the ferry had been riding low on one side and never should have been allowed out of port. The first corpses retrieved from the accident were being taken back to the port this afternoon.

Le Joola sank off the coast of West Africa and some 760 people were believed dead. The ferry sank in a fierce gale, and 88 passengers were confirmed dead today. The bodies of more than 670 others are believed to be trapped inside the capsized vessel. The storm brewed quickly and the wind built in speed and the boat started tipping over to one side. Water rushed into the cabin. Many survivors stayed on top of the capsized vessel for two hours, until fishing boats arrived to pluck them off. The state-owned ferry sank in the Atlantic Ocean about 2300 yesterday en route to Dakar from the south of the country. Dive teams recovered 88 bodies and believed corpses of the 676 others reported on board were trapped inside the ferry, which was floating on its side in the water, said Mamadou mop Thioune, a co-ordinator of a French-funded marine centre. The centre's divers were helping spearhead the search. Senegal declared three days of national mourning at midday today as the search for victims continued. Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye and other state officials went to the port to be with families. The ferry had left Senegal's southern region of Casamance.

28 September 2002 – Hopes are fading in the search for more than 500 people still missing after ferry Le Joola capsized in a storm off the coast of Senegal on Thursday (26 September). Senegalese rescuers have recovered the bodies of about 200 people and 60 survivors have been picked up, from a total of 796 people on board the vessel. Scores of bodies – many of them child victims – are also reported to have been recovered from the River Gambia and transported to Banjul. The Senegalese President, Abdoulaye Wade, has said the state bears responsibility for the accident. Amid mounting criticism about the ship's seaworthiness, he faced angry crowds in the capital Dakar. Mr Wade said it had been established that the ship was overloaded – and the state would compensate the victims' families. Details of how and why the vessel tipped over are still sketchy, but the government has promised a full inquiry.

30 September 2002 – Senegal said today that 970 people were feared dead after the sinking of ferry Le Joola. Only 64 people are known to have survived. The total number on board when the vessel capsized is believed to be 1,034, a statement from the Prime Minister Mame Madior Boye's office said. Earlier numbers had not accounted for the 55-member crew and another 185 passengers who had boarded at a second stop en route from southern Senegal. Footage filmed by tourists hours before the overcrowded ferry capsized showed it to be clearly listing to one side before disappearing into a driving rainstorm. Sengalese authorities set up five "crisis centres" in Dakar for relatives to identify photos of the 350 bodies retrieved from the wreckage so far. The ferry has been righted and was being towed towards Gambia. Most of the passengers aboard were Senegalese but at least 45 were foreigners from about ten countries, officials said.

30 September 2002 – Ferry Le Joola sank in Gambian waters, during voyage from Ziguinchor, Senegal, to Dakar, at around 2300, 26 September. The ferry was loaded with goods and 1,034 persons and encountered heavy wind and storm. Salvage operations now in hand.

1 October 2002 – A diver who took part in rescue operations after ferry Le Joola capsized said he found no survivors in the hull. Speaking in the capital, Dakar, today, he said he had dived under the capsized ship on Saturday (28 September) morning, two days after it had overturned en route from Casamance in southern Senegal to Dakar. Anger is mounting in Senegal against the government, which has accepted responsibility for the tragedy and is trying to establish the identities of the more than 350 bodies recovered so far. Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has said the state bears responsibility for the disaster. Facing angry crowds in the capital, Dakar, he said he believed there had been "an accumulation of errors", which resulted in the disaster. Mr Wade said it had been established that the ship was overloaded – and the state would compensate the victims' families. Mr Wade said people had been allowed on without tickets to the ferry, which had a capacity of 550 passengers. Questions have also been raised about maintenance, as Le Joola had only recently resumed service after undergoing repairs.

2 October 2002 – President Abdoulaye Wade promised criminal prosecution for what he called negligence in the last voyage of the state-run ferry Le Joola, built for 600, and holding more than 1,000 when it capsized. "There will be prosecutions, of course," Wade said. "Under our law, if a person by negligence provokes an accident or the death of a person, he has to be tried. And the people that will have any responsibility will be before the courts." Authorities now were trying to decide what to do with the hundreds of dead, deemed irretrievable, inside the ferry, Interior Minister Mamadou Niang said. "It's a delicate decision, whether we will try to tow the boat in or allow it to sink to the ocean floor," Niang told reporters. Or "to leave the boat there and make a monument out of it." Only 64 of the 1,034 confirmed aboard are known to have survived when the vessel sank in a fierce gale just before midnight Thursday (26 September). Wade conceded that the true toll might be even higher. Ticketing agents said that children under five would have gone unticketed and thus apparently uncounted in the toll of dead. Divers said decay after five days in the 858F Atlantic waters made removal of intact victims impossible. Medical teams said they had made only 80 identifications of dead and that there was no hope of more. The German shipyard that built the ferry for Senegal 12 years ago confirmed that the vessel had been designed for 536 passengers and 64 crew, nearly half the number Senegal says was aboard at the time of the disaster. However, the vessel was being used as it was intended, for sea voyages within 50 nautical miles of the coast, said George Hoeckels, a manager with shipmaker Neue Germersheimer Schiffswerft.

3 October 2002 – Senegal has decided to tow the corpse-laden ferry Le Joola to its own territorial waters, retrieving the bodies there for burial, the interior minister said today. Interior Minister Mamadou Niang told reporters today said although corpses still are washing toward shore daily, hundreds of dead are believed still trapped in the ferry. "We are going to tow the ferry to be able to recover the bodies properly and bury them properly," Niang said. A total of 21 naval vessels from Senegal, Gambia and France, 37 ambulances and one helicopter have also been pressed into service during the past week, he said. The towing effort will be led by the Senegalese navy with help from French naval forces stationed in Dakar and a private company. Preparations for the operation began yesterday, Niang said.

4 October 2002 – Ferry Le Joola is to be towed ashore and made a memorial. Interior Minister Mamadou Niang said the vessel would be towed into Senegalese waters and brought ashore so that a number of bodies thought to be inside could be recovered and given a proper burial. A salvage operation for bodies trapped in the hull was abandoned. Two official investigations concluded earlier this week that overloading, failure to observe safety procedures and bad weather caused the vessel to capsize. The authorities have decided to turn the ferry into a memorial dedicated to the victims of the tragedy but they have not said where the site will be located. Initially, Mr Niang said, some officials had suggested the ferry should be sunk or re-floated to resume service. The minister said the ship would be towed to Kafountine, in Casamance, where the victims' remains would be buried. Two separate reports, ordered by President Wade, have concluded that the ferry was built for 550 passengers but carried about twice that amount. It capsized when hundreds of people on the top deck rushed to one side to take cover from a sudden gale. The reports say the crew were taken by surprise and were unable to release rescue equipment. Relatives have been trying to identify the dead from photographs. Only 64 of more than 1,000 passengers survived. Only 32 bodies have been identified because so many of the victims' corpses have decomposed. About 500 bodies have been recovered so far. President Abdoulaye Wade has promised a full technical inquiry involving a French maritime expert and relatives of the victims, and said there would be prosecutions.

8 October 2002 – Experts from the USA and The Netherlands are due today to give the Senegalese Government their assessment of plans to tow ashore ferry Le Joola that capsized last month, killing almost 1,000 people. Yesterday, the three maritime specialists visited the site off the Gambian coast. Senegalese Interior Minister Mamadou Niang has said the ship is stuck on a sandbank by its mast and smokestacks. Mr Niang said last week that the government planned to tow the ferry ashore and turn its hull into a memorial for those who died in the worst maritime accident in African history. The minister said the ship would be towed to Kafountine, near Ziguinchor, where the victims' remains would be buried.

15 October 2002 – Senegal's president fired the country's top navy official for the capsizing of ferry Le Joola that left hundreds of people dead, the president's spokesman said today. Chief of Navy Ousseynou Kombo was the latest senior official to fall in the wake of the 26 September disaster. The transport and armed forces ministers both resigned in the aftermath of the accident. Kombo "was definitely sacked because of the number of people on board the vessel," said Souleymane Nene Ndiaye, a spokesman for President Abdoulaye Wade. Wade dismissed Kombo late yesterday, Ndiaye said. A replacement was not immediately announced.

5 November 2002 – Overloading and violations of international safety standards caused Africa's deadliest ferry disaster, the 26 September capsizing of Senegal's state-run ferry Le Joola, a panel of inquiry reported today. The government-appointed panel put the death toll at 1,153, higher than the previous official estimate of about 1,000. The panel also sharply criticized the military for not sending its first search aircraft and boats until some 12 hours after the capsizing. The updated death toll includes children and soldiers, who may not have been previously counted because they did not have to buy tickets, as well as crew members. The ferry was built to hold 600 people. The chairman of the inquiry, Seydou Madani Sy, told reporters that at least 1,220 people appear to have been on Le Joola. A total of 67 people survived. The report comes a day after Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade dismissed his prime minister and entire cabinet, a move seen in part as a reaction to the disaster and to the report, submitted to Wade late yesterday. Two cabinet ministers resigned earlier. "A number of irregularities were noted at all levels of management of Le Joola," Sy told reporters. The chief factors in the disaster were the shifting weight of the packed-in passengers and 50 tons of unstowed freight, which made the vessel vulnerable when it was struck by a fierce gale just before midnight that overturned it. Other irregularities reported by the panel were lack of training for the crew, failure by the captain – who died in the disaster – to carry out standard stability calculations before leaving port, inadequate emergency rafts and faulty radio equipment. Sy issued a series of recommendations to the government, including establishment of a special meteorological centre for better warning of storms. Rescuers and some of the survivors said they heard people trapped inside the vessel screaming for help hours after the capsizing and that a faster response by the government might have saved more people. Senegal's army chief of staff, Babacar Gueye, told investigators that he considered sending rescue aircraft and boats earlier but decided it would not be "useful" because fishing boats in the area were rescuing victims.

26 November 2002 – The sinking of ferry Le Joola in the Gulf of Guinea in September claimed more lives than the 1,200 estimated by authorities early this month, officials of an association of victims' relatives said today. A government investigation concluded that 1,200 people perished in the sinking of the government-operated ferry, which had a capacity of 550 passengers and a crew of about 40, while just 64 people had survived the disaster. However officials of a victims' association set up in Ziguinchor, in southern Senegal from where the ill-fated ferry sailed, told journalists that they had compiled a death toll of 1,340 through a "census" of families from that region that was checked against the passenger list. Many other passengers were not from the Ziguinchor area, they said. The association also accused the government of failing to live up to pledges of support two months after the disaster, and rejected as insufficient an offer of 8 billion CFA francs (e12.2 million) in compensation for the victims. President Abdoulaye Wade sacked his government on 4 November in the wake of the disaster, the worst in Senegal's maritime history and in modern African history.

22 October 2002 Mercuri 2 (Azerbaijan)

Passenger/ro-ro Mercuri 2 (11,450gt, built 1984), carrying 51 people, and a shipment of oil, sank in rough weather in the Caspian Sea today, killing all on board. The vessel was on its way from the port of Aktau, Kazakhstan heading southwest to the Azerbaijani capital Baku when it sank, said a spokesman for Caspar, the shipping company that owns the ferry. The ferry sank at 1043 hrs (0643 UTC) 130km from Baku, with 43 crew members, eight passengers, and 16 tanks of crude oil on board, the company said. The Interfax news agency said the weather was stormy at the time the ship went under. The office of Azerbaijani President Geidar Aliev said that five ships and five helicopters were involved in the search-and-rescue operation. Aliev held an emergency meeting with top officials to hear the reports of the disaster and set up a special commission to look into the causes of the sinking. At least one body has been recovered so far, Interfax said. There was heavy rain and high winds at the site of the sinking, complicating rescue efforts.

22 October 2002 – Passenger ro/ro Mercuri 2, carrying 51 people sank in a storm in the Caspian Sea, prompting a desperate search for survivors and fears of a leak from the tons of crude oil on board, officials said today. Azerbaijan's state-run Aztv Station reported that nine people were plucked from the water and airlifted to hospital after Mercuri 2 went down about 100km off Baku. Rescue efforts were continuing at the scene as night fell but there were growing fears that the remaining 42 passengers and crew who were on board the vessel had perished. The Caspian is prone to very rough seas and there were reports that strong winds and heavy rain were hampering the rescue operation. There were also concerns that hundreds of tons of crude oil being carried in containers on the ship's deck would leak out, causing an environmental disaster. The vessel was sailing from Aktau to Baku with 43 crew and eight passengers when it "suffered a catastrophe", Azerbaijan's state-owned Caspian Maritime Shipping Company, which owns the ship, said in a statement. Officials refused to comment on how the ship sank but sources said it issued a distress signal at 0900 hrs (0400 UTC) this morning, after which radio contact was lost. The last known position of the vessel was about 100km east of Baku, the sources said. According to the Caspian Maritime Shipping Company statement, the vessel had been carrying 16 railway containers of crude oil. Azerbaijan's state oil company said it was standing by to deal with any oil slick resulting from the accident. "We are equipped to deal with a spill of up to 1,000 tons of oil but if it is more than that then we are helpless. We will have to appeal for help from abroad," Azerpress news agency quoted an oil company official as saying. Questions were also raised about why rescue services reportedly took so long to respond to the vessel's distress signal, with sources saying five hours passed between the signal and reports the ship had sunk.

22 October 2002 – A total of 43 people are feared to have died after passenger ro/ro Mercuri 2 capsized during a storm in the Caspian sea yesterday morning. Only nine people were rescued, one of whom later died in hospital, according to Azeri officials. Rescue efforts are being hampered by high winds and driving rain, but Vice Prime Minister Abid Sharifov said five vessels were searching through the night for survivors. Seven rescue helicopters would begin work at daylight, he said. Aidyn Bashirov, president of the Caspar Shipping Company said the vessel got caught in a storm in which winds of up to 65mph whipped the sea into 6m waves. He said the heavy seas caused oil containers on board the vessel, estimated to weigh about 60 tonnes, to shift to one side, and the vessel to sink. It is unclear whether any of the oil on board the vessel has leaked in the accident. The President of Azerbaijan, Geidar Aliev, has set up a commission to investigate the cause of the tragedy.

23 October 2002 – Emergency workers searched today for about 40 people who disappeared when passenger ro/ro Mercuri 2 sank during a storm in the Caspian Sea. Two people have been confirmed dead and 13 were saved, said Aidyn Bashirov, president of the Caspar Shipping Company that owned the 154m vessel. A government commission said only nine had been saved. Bashirov said ships searched through the night for the missing. By morning, 12 boats and seven helicopters were involved in rescue efforts. "We continue our search and do not lose hope to find survivors," Bashirov said. He said the vessel got caught in a storm with winds of up to 105km/h and 6m waves. The state commission investigating the accident said that an oil slick had spread over an area about 15km long and 8km wide. The ferry was carrying 15 containers of oil when it sank. However, the commission released no information on just how much oil had spilled into the water. Early evidence indicated that the heavy seas caused oil containers, each weighing about 60 tonnes, to shift to one side and the vessel sank, Bashirov said.

24 October 2002 – Rescue workers scoured the stormy waters of the Caspian Sea in a desperate search for survivors from passenger ro/ro Mercuri 2 which capsized on its way from Aktau, Kazakhstan to the Azerbaijani capital Baku, that is believed to have left more than 40 people dead. At least 51 people were on board the vessel when it sank in a storm, 12 people were rescued but two died on route to hospital; 40 others are feared dead. Many are thought to have been unofficial passengers travelling without a ticket. The vessel regularly plied the route between oil platforms in the Caspian Sea. It was carrying 1,000 tonnes of oil in barrels. It is thought high winds caused the drums to shift on board capsizing the vessel. A giant oil slick, measuring 15km by 8km, has been hampering rescue efforts, and with the sea temperatures at only 15úC the chances of finding any more people alive are slim. The search now is for bodies and evidence to help the inquiry into what is officially one of the worst sea disaster's in Azerbaijan's history.

30 October 2002 – There may have been eight unregistered passengers on board passenger ro/ro Mercuri 2 that sank in the Caspian Sea last week, a top Azerbaijani official said today, raising the total number of people aboard to 58. Nine people were rescued and four bodies have been found. Preliminary information suggests there were about eight unregistered passengers aboard Mercuri 2 when it sank on 22 October, said Abid Sharifov, a deputy premier who also heads Azerbaijan's state emergency commission. He said the exact number was not known. There were 42 crew members and eight registered passengers on the ferry.

22 October 2002 – Nego Kim (Hong Kong)

A damaged or dropped light assembly was the most likely cause of the explosion on board bulk Nego Kim, which killed eight of its crew, the official Australian Transport Safety Bureau report has found. The report also criticized Dampier Port Authority for closing its control tower and limiting its port control communications to office hours only. Nego Kim's distress calls were initially answered by Hamersley Iron's control centre, making communication more difficult because the master assumed he was talking to port control. "In the Inspector's opinion, it is hard to imagine a comparable ranking, multi-user port within Australia, or internationally, that would not have a 24hr operations centre," the report said. The investigation was not able to be precise on the exact cause of the explosion, which took place on 21 November 2001, while the ship was anchored off Dampier. Crew members were painting a ballast tank when the explosion lifted the deck plating by 3m, killing three men standing above the tank, throwing four more into the sea and severely burning a man in the tank. He died 18 days later and the body of only one man in the water was recovered in the worsening weather. The investigation found that a ventilation fan, a VHF radio and the light assembly were not properly explosion-proof. However, the explosion took place inside the tank, making the light the likely culprit. The epoxy resin paint and thinner fumes involved are heavier than air and would have sunk to the bottom of the tank. However, movement in the space may have sent fumes into the upper part of the tank, where the ignition is thought to have taken place. The Dampier Port Authority submission to the investigation said that 99 per cent of the port's users are Hamersley, Dampier Salt and Woodside Energy, which all run 24hr radio coverage. The report said that the "apparent assumption" was that Woodside staff would monitor Channel 16 emergencies. However, Woodside staff understood their responsibilities to cover movements and emergencies with their own LNG tankers. "[The] staff were not aware of their role in a more general port emergency. This role had not been explained to them, nor had they been trained in it," the report said. It also said that the Dampier emergency response plan should be reviewed "to remove ambiguities and to ensure a consistent and more appropriate approach to emergency situations in the port, including clear communications". The ship was managed by Wallem Shipmanagement of Hong Kong, which was also criticised for failing to train the crew in painting safety and meeting ISM requirements.

4 November 2002 – Masohi Star (Indonesia)

Indonesian ferry Masohi Star packed with more than 200 passengers sank off Ambon, leaving five people dead and 73 missing, officials said today. Local government spokesman Martin Luther Djari said 127 passengers were being treated in three hospitals in Ambon while rescuers were searching for those missing after the vessel sank last night. "We don't know what caused the ferry to sink because we are still trying to search for the victims," Djari said by telephone from Ambon. Officials said scores of private boats were helping navy and police rescuers scour the waters around Ambon for survivors from the ferry which sank about 10-15 minutes after it left port. "A navy vessel and three of our speedboats are searching the bay and many public speedboats and fishing boats are helping," said Captain Eko Priyanto from the Ambon naval base. Djari said the ferry had a capacity of 180 people. It was heading for the town of Masohi, 100km away.

5 November 2002 – Recovery crews tried to pry open the roof of ferry Masohi Star, lying in 300ft of water today, searching for victims that went down with the vessel near Ambon island in central Indonesia. The vessel packed with up to 200 passengers sank Sunday night (3 November). Only five bodies have been recovered, while 117 survivors were plucked from the water by fishing boats and navy vessels. Many more survivors were believed to have swum to shore. Lt Tony Sugadra, a police spokesman, said authorities feared dozens of people may have perished on the vessel that went down just minutes after sailing from Ambon, 1,600 miles east of Jakarta on its way to Seram island, about 90 miles northeast. There were conflicting reports on the number of people aboard. Police arrested the vessel's master, who told authorities the 30-ton vessel was carrying 125 passengers and crew. Police believe the number was closer to 200, and that overloading was a factor in the accident. The vessel was lying in 300ft of water, and rescuers used anchors to try to pull open the roof in their search for bodies. Most of the passengers on the inter-island ferry were believed heading home to Seram for this week's start of Ramadan.

19 November 2002 – Ivan Kasatkin (Russia)

Fishery schooner Ivan Kasatkin, port of registry Kholmsk, owned by Kataran Business company, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, sank in the north area of the Tatar strait, 180kms off Kholmsk, Sakhalin island, due to a heavy storm. The crew abandoned the sinking vessel on two rafts. Ref Komsomolets Primorya, arriving on scene, rescued eight people off one raft. Today, the second raft was found with only one crew member on board. However, he subsequently died. The remaining nine crew members were not found. Unfortunately, no other details of the accident are available for us.

18 December 2002 – Sap Luiz (Brazil)

Ferry Sap Luiz, with more than 300 people on board, has capsized in the northern Brazilian state of Para, killing at least five people. Rescue teams are at the site of the accident, but more than 80 passengers are still missing, feared drowned. Authorities said the accident, near the town of Barcarena, may have been due to overcrowding, as the vessel had a capacity for only 150 people. The vessel was on its way to the city of Manaus from Para's state capital, Belem.

20 December 2002 – The death toll in a ferry accident on an Amazon river rose to 22 people today with 28 more believed missing, the fourth naval command said. Ferry Sap Luiz sank yesterday on the Para River about 25 miles south of Belem, reportedly with more than twice its capacity of 148 people on board. Many donned life preservers and swam to an island close to the site of the accident, according to the naval command. The vessel had made several unscheduled stops to pick up passengers, and local media reports said it was carrying more than 300 when it sank. Port officials said divers would inspect the submerged wreck over the weekend to see if any bodies had been trapped on board.

22 December 2002 – Brazil's navy today raised the wreck of ferry Sap Luiz, which sank in a Amazon tributary, and sailors uncovered more victims of the accident, bringing the death toll to 44 people; ten more bodies were found trapped in the vessel, the Brazilian navy was quoted as saying in a local television report. The overcrowded vessel, carrying more than 300 people, sank on Wednesday (18 December) on the Para River in the jungle 1,500 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. The navy said there were at least 303 survivors, many of whom swam to an island close to the site of the accident, which occurred about 25 miles south of Belem. The ferry, with a capacity for only 148 people, had made several unscheduled stops to pick up passengers. The vessel was on its way from Manaus to Belem when it sank in rough waters, but authorities do not know the cause of the accident.

17 December 2002 – Scandinavian Star (Bahamian)

A fire onboard a Danish ferry in 1990 which killed 158 people was started deliberately by two of the ship's officers in an insurance scam, according to a witness cited in daily paper Expressen today. According to the account, by an unidentified navy officer, the arsonists were following orders from the owner of the ro/ro ferry Scandinavian Star, who hoped for $27.2 million of insurance money. The policy had been taken out just a week before the catastrophe, which occurred in the Skagerrak between Oslo and Frederikshavn, in northern Denmark, in April 1990. Police investigating the fire had already established that the fire was no accident, but entirely blamed a Danish truck driver, who perished in the fire. The vessel's master and two major shareholders were given light sentences for negligence. However, the victim's families have consistently criticized the findings. "The investigation was botched, it was full of holes. The Dane was completely innocent," said Hasse Magnusson, who lost two sons in the fire. "The witness has always refused to come forward because he fears reprisals," he said. Swedish investigators told Expressen that they had interrogated the same witness and that he was "credible". "But nothing amounting to proof came out of these interviews," said Claes Tomberg, a senior member of the Swedish fire department. Danish police may decide to re-open the inquiry in the light of these new elements, Expressen said. The vessel was carrying 482 people, of which 99 were crew. Of the victims, 29 were Danish and the rest Norwegian.

19 December 2002 – Changyun 1 (China)

A total of 11 people have been killed and 29 are missing after general cargo Yisheng rammed passenger Changyun 1 in thick fog on a southwestern Chinese river, state-run media said today. The dead and missing included 18 teachers on their way to work, the Xinhua news agency said. Of the 38 passengers and nine crew on board the ferry, seven people were rescued, the reports said. An official in Chongqing said authorities were investigating the cause of the accident.