Conference turris::scandia

175.0. "Ship casualty" by TLE::SAVAGE (Neil, @Spit Brook) Mon Dec 29 1986 09:05

Associated Press Mon 29-DEC-1986 06:40                          Iceland-Ships

               Iceland Opens Inquiry On Lost British Cargo Ship
    
                             By AGUST ASGEIRSSON
    
    REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) - A maritime court has begun hearing testimony
    in an effort to determine why a cargo ship crashed into a rock marked
    by a lighthouse and sank, killing all 12 men aboard. 
    
    The 2,600-ton Syneta, owned by a British company and registered in
    Gibraltar, sank in good weather Christmas Day after hitting the
    531-foot-high Skrudur rock near the fishing port of Eskifjordur on
    Iceland's east coast. "There are several possibilities as to what
    caused the tanker to sail straight into Skrudur rock," said Bjarni
    Stefansson, deputy to the sheriff for the eastern fjords of Iceland. He
    said authorities had not yet determined the cause. 
    
    The maritime court opened its hearing Sunday night in Eskifjordur.
    Sigurdur Eiriksson, sheriff of the eastern fjords, presided over the
    session. The ship's owners and operators and insurance representatives
    attended. 
    
    Stefansson said police completed their investigation Sunday. He said
    they questioned those involved in the rescue operation, including the
    crews of fishing boats and trawlers based in east coast fishing towns.
    "The material recovered in the investigation will be used as evidence
    in the court but I cannot comment on the findings or give any
    substance," Stefansson told The Associated Press. 
    
    Johannes Briem, the chief rescue coordinator for the Icelandic
    Lifesaving Association, has said the Syneta's captain indicated in
    radio calls to the shore that the ship's radar system malfunctioned. A
    letter found on the body of one crew member complained of engine
    problems and of an inoperable automatic pilot, Icelandic officials
    reported. 
    
    The British ship officers union said it would press the British
    government for a separate inquiry because it was unhappy with
    Gibraltar's safety standards for vessels registered there. "We have no
    input whatsoever into the Icelandic inquiry, so we cannot ask
    questions," said Eric Nevins, general secretary of Britain's
    26,300-member National Union of Marine, Aviation and Shipping Transport
    Officers. 
    
    John Prescott of Britain's opposition Labor Party said the government
    should urge Gibraltar to hold an inquiry. "The evidence we have of
    flags of convenience countries is that they sell their flags for a few
    pieces of silver," Prescott said. But a Department of Transportation
    official said "calls for an inquiry are a matter for the Gibraltar
    authorities" because the Syneta was registered there. 
    
    The Syneta was headed for Eskifjordur to pick up a cargo of fish liver
    oil when it sank. The crew consisted of Capt. Richard Cape, a Briton,
    five other British officers and six seamen from the Cape Verde Islands
    on the west coast of Africa. Crews continued to search Sunday for the
    bodies of three crew members still unaccounted for, but were hampered
    by bad weather. The missing are presumed dead. 
    
    A day before the sinking of the Syneta, the Icelandic freighter
    Sudurland sank in rough seas between Iceland and Norway, killing six
    people. The five survivors said in Reykjavik on Sunday they owed their
    lives to a British Royal Air Force reconnaissance plane that dropped a
    new lifeboat to them as they huddled in a leaking dinghy. 

  From: [email protected] (UPI)
  Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.trouble,clari.news.europe
  Subject: Hydrofoil hit by freak wave near Denmark
  Date: Fri, 19 Feb 93 10:38:19 PST
 
	LONDON (UPI) -- A Swedish hydrofoil has been forced to seek shelter
from high seas after a large wave smashed several windows on the vessel,
a search and rescue coordinator said Friday.
	None of the 270 passengers on the Cynderella II were injured when the
wave struck the hydrofoil during its trip from Malmo on the southern
Swedish coast to Copenhagen in Denmark, the duty commander of the Danish
maritime rescue center, Johnnie Thomsen, told United Press International
by telephone.
	Initial fears for the safety of the passengers and crew had now
passed and the 130-foot vessel was in calmer waters, he said.
	A mayday call had been sent out from the crew of the hydrofoil at
7:38 p.m. local time, he said.
	``Everything is under control now,'' Thomsen said. ``The hydrofoil
was hit by a large wave which broke some windows on the vessel's
superstructure. I do not know how many windows were broken, but there
are no injured passengers or crew.
	``The vessel has managed to reach shelter in the port of a small
island near Copenhagen called Flakfortet,'' Thomsen told UPI.
	The ferry was secured in the port and another ferry nearby had been
called to assist in getting the passengers to the mainland, he said.
	High winds and heavy seas were continuing in the region.

            STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- A Russian cargoship with 20 crew
    members was reported to be listing heavily off the Swedish east
    coast Thursday, news reports said.
            The captain has not requested assistance, the Swedish news
    agency TT said. But as a precaution, two Swedish air force and
    naval helicopters and three coast guard vessels were dispatced to
    assist the Russians.
            The vessel, whose name and precise homeport were not
    immediately known, was listing about 20 degrees, TT reported.
            Coast guard officials said some of its cargo of trucks and
    timber appear to have shifted, but they did not know whether they
    caused the vessel to tilt, or had resulted from the tilting.
            Windspeeds were reported at 53 kilometers (33 miles) per hour.
    The vessel's exact location was unclear, but was said to be
    somewhere in the Stockholm archipelago off Sweden's southeastern
    coast.