Posted on 02/07/2006 3:26:23 PM PST by wouldntbprudent
THE captain of a sister ship rejected a plea for help from the Egyptian Red Sea ferry that sank with the loss of about 1,000 lives in order to avoid a “second catastrophe”.
Salah Jomaa said that the crew of the stricken Al Salam Boccaccio 98 had radioed his vessel, which was plying the same route in the opposite direction, to ask if he could turn back and mount a rescue effort.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
The captain said that he alerted all other vessels in the area and asked them to come to the rescue. Yet a search and rescue operation was not launched until seven hours after the ferry sank
Any chance that the affected families will be able to sue over this? /S
Survivors have blamed on crew errors and the captain's stubborn refusal to sound the alarm and turn back to port, only 90 minutes away, after a fire broke out on the ferry's car deck.Crew members fought the fire for three hours before the ship began to list, unbalanced by the amount of water taken on board to fight the fire, before suddenly capsizing and sinking. Passengers, who had been told not to panic, were urged to rush to the port side of the vessle to counteract the weight of the water.
The 35-year-old Panamanian-flagged vessel had caught fire only 20 miles from the start of her journey but had limped on for 110 miles until she was 57 miles from the Egyptian coast.
Simply an amazing combination of arrogance and incompetence.
"Any chance that the affected families will be able to sue over this?"
I'm sure the courts would throw any lawsuit out saying "it was the will of Allah." Come to think of it that line would really free up the court system in Egypt.
Right. But let's keep a little perspective here. It's not as though anyone's prophet was insulted.
Did they ever find the Captain of the ferry?
True. And besides, they did manage to put the fire out...
I'm laughin' here! It may be wrong, but I'm laughin'!
I'm sure some Egyptian judge will invoke a Scottish law to help out the plaintiffs.
LOL
NOTE: Recall perhaps a few "common practices" of the past:
Ships barely seaworthy and barely able to make it out of port prior to sinking with loss of all aboard (It being very profitable to sell passage knowing the ship was unseaworthy). Ship captains appointed with no sea experience whatsoever. One ship captain appointed at age of 14. One janitor of a warehouse owner was appointed ship captain, no prior sea experience.
Oh, just to clarify matters: the reported 'common practices' in that post concerning unqualified ship's captains and unseaworthy vessels does NOT refer to Egyptian practices but to the practices that were common amongst a great seafaring nation: Great Britain.
The Egyptian government has already done more than the English government did when entire ship loads of Irish emigrants sank when barely out of port in calm weather.
It is important sometimes to maintain a sense of perspective about the color of pots and kettles.
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