Rabaul Queen may have carried over 700 passengers
06 February 2012
BY PNGEXPOSED
MORE THAN 300 PASSENGERS are believed to have perished in the disastrous sinking of the Rabaul Queen during the early hours of Thursday last week, reports the Post Courier.
Reports reaching the newspaper have said the vessel was overloaded, allegedly carrying more than 700 passengers: 400 when it left Buka, more than 100 in Rabaul, and about 360 in Kavieng and Kimbe.
This is much more than the 350 that had been quoted in the media.
Chief Executive Officer of National Maritime and Safety Authority (NMSA), Captain Nurur Rahman, had indicated the ship was overloaded adding that its certificate allowed for only 310 passengers.
Rabaul Shipping initially advised there were 350 passengers and 12 crew members on board but survivors are now testifying that there were hundreds more on board that fateful voyage.
NMSA has also advised the total number of passengers is sketchy because there was no proper manifest from Buka, Rabaul and Kimbe as many passengers bought their tickets at the wharf.
Many survivors have confirmed this information and have questioned media reports that there were 350 passengers’ destined for Lae when the ship sank.
A story published on Facebook by a relative of a survivor says: ““From my younger brother, who was on board MV Rabaul Queen when disaster struck. ‘There were actually 780 passengers on board - 420 from Rabaul/Kavieng /Buka and 360 from Kimbe. Mostly young children, mothers and students. There weren’t any emergency procedures or demonstrations when they got on the ship and the shipping agency didn’t limit passenger intakes’.”
In complete agreement with Uling Gunemba.
NMSA management have come out and complained about litigation threats from Rabaul Shipping which has been obstructing them from providing proper regulatory oversight on this company. It sickens me to see NMSA playing the victim.
Do you (NMSA) understand what authority means? You are it! So stop the dribble, go buy yourself a good lawyer and get them and others in the industry to toe the line.
It’s already more than a hundred lives too late to be bluffing around.
Posted by: David Kitchnoge | 10 February 2012 at 03:00 PM
The National Maritime and Safety Authority should not be jumping up and down and instigating opposing views and pointing fingers at the management of Rabaul Shipping.
Where were they all this time?
NMSA management should be sacked for being so slack on their part only to make their lousy noise when 100 plus lives have been lost.
Did they ever ensure safety precautions and compliances procedures where always followed by shipping companies like this? Do they ever control their operations?
It's now too late to do anything worthwhile...innocent lives have been lost.
Sack the management of NMSA and cease the operations of Rabaul Shipping and charge people with negligence and manslaughter, for goodness sake.
The love of money at the cost of valuable innocent lives is called business? The other ships locked up in Buka should stay like that until justice is done.
Posted by: Uling Gunemba | 08 February 2012 at 04:36 PM
Thanks Peter.Looking forward to what transpires.
Posted by: Gapsy Han Guhyem | 08 February 2012 at 02:00 PM
Gapsy - The answers to your questions appear to be no, no and no.
Interestingly the captain and crew were amongst the first to escape and were rescued and are now in Lae but have refused interviews.
Rabaul Shipping is all lawyered up.
See today's PNG dailies.
Posted by: Peter Kranz | 08 February 2012 at 12:41 PM
It's absolutely absurd that there aren't any accurate manifests from all ports of call. This is absolutely abnormal.
Was every person entitled to a life vest? Were any safety/rescue operational procedures demonstrated by the crew while on board in the event of unforeseen circumstances? Was the total loading capacity tantamont to the vessel's design specifications? Etc, etc.
Now we have lost precious lives from all walks of life. They will be remembered by us all.
Share my grief and pass my condolences to the families & relatives of those who have lost their precious lives.
I hope & pray that no stone is left unturned in investigating this tragedy and compensating victims fully.
Posted by: Gapsy Han Guhyem | 08 February 2012 at 11:02 AM
Terms of reference, Keith? Who will be in charge? Internal or an external panel of experts? Will it be like the number of "inquiries" like in Australia, a white wash or a cover-up?
The "Swallows of Sorrrento" seem to be at last arriving here in Brisbane with the flood reports of 2011. Heads here have started to roll. You didn't need to be an "Albert Einstein" in weather or flood control etc to know that incompetence reigned from the top! Names will not be mentioned.
Hopefully the PNG inquiry will show us here how to do it. I have my doubts!
Posted by: Colin Huggins | 07 February 2012 at 05:46 PM
This is ridiculous, but it seems to happen all around the World. The MV Rabaul Queen doesn't look anything like the size of a ship that could carry 350 people. Now reported - 700!
What were people thinking? Did they sit on top of each other. Toilet facilities? Food? Seats even? Did they have to bring their own food on board? I doubt if any facilities on that ship would be able to cater!
A disaster before it even got anywhere near where it sank.
Hopefully more survivors will be located - the water would be warm and it seems it was not that far off the coastline.
?
More to the point - with the present "impasse" in PNG politics, what is being done to find the truth?
___________
An independne t commission of inquiry was announced today - KJ
Posted by: Colin Huggins | 07 February 2012 at 03:32 PM
I am a regular traveller with Rabaul Shipping and I support the suggestions that Rabaul Queen was overloaded.
Work out my standing from here. In all voyages I was on in January (Buka-Lae) and June (Lae-Kimbe-Lae) in 2011, I was always glued to one position from the port of departure to the destination.
Every deck and space was completely occupied by passengers: down the ladders into the decks, in front of the ablutions, up on the roof around the funnel, on the safety railing, at the bow, and you name it.
This scene shows that Rabaul Shipping does not carry 310 passengers day by day. Money comes first, then the value of life!
Posted by: Leonard Roka | 07 February 2012 at 03:20 PM
If it's overloading than please don't ever let it occur in the future. Value life, not money. May God bless the victims etc.
Posted by: David Birao | 06 February 2012 at 03:14 PM
While I've no doubt the ship was overloaded, I would be careful about quoting numbers. Eyewitnesses (bless 'em) are often unreliable when estimating number of people.
If it was 100 overloaded that would be bad enough.
Unfortunately with no accurate manifests (itself a major cause of cencern) it will be very diffult to calculate the exact numbers of possible victims.
Posted by: Peter Kranz | 06 February 2012 at 01:50 PM