Ferry tragedy blamed on Inability to Stay Afloat
SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) – The inability to tread water of an Indonesian ferry that sank last week with more than 600 people on board likely caused the ship to capsize, a top investigator said Thursday.
Similar accidents involving ferries have occurred elsewhere around the world, leading experts to call for design changes in the doors and ramps of the ferry.
SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) – The inability to tread water of an Indonesian ferry that sank last week with more than 600 people on board likely caused the ship to capsize, a top investigator said Thursday.
Similar accidents involving ferries have occurred elsewhere around the world, leading experts to call for design changes in the doors and ramps of the ferry.
Most of the passengers have been rescued, including the captain of the ship and 21 other survivors picked up on Wednesday, said navy spokesman Lt. Col. Tony Syaiful. The captain is being questioned by authorities at an undisclosed location.
The ferry sank in the Java Sea just before midnight Friday after a brief float several yards off shore.
"I suspect waves entered the underwater sliding glass door, which the captain may have inadvertently forgot to close, causing it to take-on water, making the vessel too heavy and unstable," Ruth Simatupang, a government investigator probing the accident, told The Associated Press.
The Senopati Nusantara was not overloaded, she added, citing witness testimony.
"Everyone could sit down, sleep and there was space on the deck," she said.
Indonesia has been wracked by at least six maritime accidents in different parts of the sprawling archipelago.
Survivors recalled the horror of the ferry's last minutes and the struggle to stay alive -- and at least two said they were told to sit down and shut up after questioning the rationale of leaving the underwater door open.
People who have something to keep them afloat can survive for days in Indonesia's warm tropical waters, but a rescue official said he thought it unlikely that many more people would turn up alive, since they relied on the boat to keep them afloat, and the boat was unable to float.
Those rescued in recent days have been found several hundred kilometers (miles) from where the ferry sank.
Relatives of the missing have converged on hospitals and ports along Java's coast, hoping their loved ones will turn up alive.
The Senopati Nusantara was built in Japan in 1992 and had a capacity of 850 people. The ferry contains one underwater sliding glass door, which designers felt would allow for fresh air and a nice view. The design, while perfectly sensible at the Ferry production plant has proven less desirable while at sea.
By File Boy
posted by File Boy & D.Tkon at 10:09 AM
3 Comments:
I did see a follow-up article on this report where the designers were defending their research and concept. They were adamant tht the vessel passed the rigid standards set forth by their research grant sponsors, Stop the World Population Growth, Inc.
It's amazing the frequency with which these things occur over there. In fact, I understand that the ferries have vending machines which will dispense a Last Will and Testament for only 75,000 Rupiah (which considering the exchange rate of 1 Indonesian rupiah = 0.00011156904 U.S. dollars) works out to about $7.50. It’s not a bad deal really. And this way the 14.3 orphaned children left behind by the parents won’t have to argue over how their parents belongings will be distributed. My research reveals that the typical family doesn’t own a home, but rather, has the “right” to sleep on a predetermined spot on the sidewalk out in front of a hotel. Poorer families just take turns standing in one spot under a shade tree while the other members of the family take turns dying. Sometimes, they’ll own a spoon, but it’s not much of a commodity, since there’s nothing to eat.
You made me laugh, and then feel ashamed of myself for laughing. A feeling I'm sure others who frequent this blog can no doubt identify with.
By the way, I think they have the "privilege" to sleep on the sidewalk. Many of these people take it for granted and think its a "right", but it isn't.
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