Key inspection people are at fault here.
Posted on 09/08/2019 3:37:02 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Rescue crews are searching for four crew members of a cargo ship that overturned in the early hours of Sunday morning off the coast of Brunswick, Ga., approximately 80 miles south of Savannah.
There were 23 crew members and a pilot aboard the Golden Ray when the 656-foot carrier became disabled in St. Simons Sound, according to the Coast Guard.
Twenty people on the vessel were rescued.
Capt. John Reed, Commander of Coast Guard Sector Charleston, told reporters at a Sunday afternoon press conference that several people were rescued from the vessel "at multiple points." Then rescue operations were suspended due to safety concerns related to a fire on the ship.
"As smoke and flames began to appear our crews ... assessed the situation was too risky to further go inside the vessel to attempt to locate the four individuals who remain missing at this time," Reed said.
Coast Guard officials said rescue missions will resume once it's safe to do so.
"Once salvage professionals have determined the vessel to be stable, we will identify the best option to continue our rescue efforts for the four crew members who remain onboard," Reed said.
At about 2 a.m. Sunday, Coast Guard officials in Charleston were notified a ship was disabled and "listing heavy" to its port side as it was about to make a turn to depart the harbor.
Officials are still working to determine the cause of the incident, and say an emergency safety zone has been established in St. Simons Sound. Other ships are not permitted within a half mile of the Golden Ray, according to a Coast Guard media advisory.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the ship is on its side and visible from the pier on St. Simons Island.
There do not appear to be any environmental hazards with the cargo vessel being on its side in water, according to Cmdr. Norm Witt, who oversees the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Unit Savannah.
"Currently, I would say there is no active release of pollution," Witt told reporters.
As a precaution, though, Witt said pollution mitigation strategies have been activated.
Something sounds fishy about this story. The concern is about pollution but no interest in what caused it to list?
Terrible. I was just in that area yesterday. It gets an incredible amount of shipping and it’s truly sad to see something like this.
How un-PC of you! Don’t you know that the most important thing is not loss of human lives but potential impact on the sea turtles?
Korean Broadcasting Station,KBS, in Seoul, Korea, said 4,000* new vehicles were aboard. I’ve no idea if this is an accurate number or if the ship was destined for Korea or coming to the US from South Korea. This was on the KBS broadcast at 4pm CST.
* I have a hard time believing this number
Sounds about right, actually. And there is (probably) no way it was headed from the US to Korea.
Somebody had not finished ballasting. Free surface in ballast tank(s) flowed to side opposite during turn.
Or forgot to ballast.
NPR would be overly environmentally focused IMO. I see at gcaptain the vessel is in calm seas laid over to port. Seems to me an indication they were shifting ballast, and something failed. Apparently when they went over to port something broke loose inside the hold that then started the fire.
Just a guess.
We have a Kia plant several miles from here in West Point, GA. It’s the size of a small city. I’ve seen a literal sea of tens of thousands of new cars parked there, waiting to be shipped. Likewise with a Hyundai plant about a hundred miles to the southeast. And, the closest water ports to ship them would be right along the Georgia coast. If any came from there, we’ll know about it here in pretty short order. Moving them in bulk regionally would make a more sense than trying to move all of them overland by rigs, eight or ten at a time, not to mention getting them to international markets.
Key inspection people are at fault here.
Is that the ships bridge across the bow?
Looks like her bow-lines go thru those lower openings--but the bridge has a very low profile on the main deck.
That makes more sense. Thanks.
I was about to post this. Hope they’re OK.
A cargo ship caught fire and overturned in the St. Simons Sound off Brunswick, Ga, Sept. 8, 2019.
VCG, it’s a bitch
Thank you. I should have thought of this since I live not all that far from West Point and Montgomery.
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