Tuesday, 6th May 2008
Man critical after explosion on boat
Brian Felder about to be taken away by ambulance to Mater Dei hospital. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier.
A seaman was rescued severely burnt after his boat exploded and caught fire in Marsamxett Harbour yesterday afternoon.
The police said he was in danger of dying but they did not know what caused the fire that broke out at around 4.30 p.m.
The skipper of the catamaran that fished him out of the sea said almost 70 per cent of his body was burnt. Even though he was conscious and talking, he was clearly in pain.
The victim is Brian Felder, a 58-year-old Maltese whose family is British, according to his rescuer Daniel Beyers. An ambulance picked him up from the marina of the Grand Hotel Excelsior, leaving 30 minutes after it arrived on the scene.
Mr Beyers, the South African skipper of Moorings 4000, said Mr Felder's trimaran had just sailed past them and the crew had waved to him as he headed out of the harbour.
Moorings 4000 was on holiday in Malta for a day and was fuelling before heading to Turkey when an explosion was heard and the trimaran caught fire. The man on board jumped off and Moorings 4000 went to the rescue, pulling him out of the water and taking him to land.
Eyewitnesses, who were walking along Valletta's ring road, also heard the explosion and saw the boat burst into flames, followed by billowing black smoke.
A Norwegian tourist, who had just visited the capital city, said the fire got worse and worse.
He said he saw a body floating by the boat, and when it was hauled out of the sea, it seemed motionless. The victim could do nothing to help himself out of the water.
It was not for another 30 minutes that the ambulance showed up and action was taken, the tourist said, adding he was surprised at how slow the process was and that it would have been much faster in Norway, with helicopters flying overhead and rescue boats arriving on the scene immediately.
The burning boat capsized further out and the Civil Protection Department's Garibaldi hosed it down, assisted by an AFM vessel.
CPD director, Peter Cordina, who was on site, said the boat would be taken away by the AFM.
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Comments
although there is a shortage of ambulances, i positvely,100% sure that in REAL EMERGENCIES which amount up to less than 10% of all ambulance daily 112 calls, no response was more than 30 minutes even from MDH to cirkewwa. Therefore you comments are unrealistic.
i suggest you to forward any reports to the A&E adminstration.
if people start to think that ambulances are not TAXIS, then our ambulance emergency services will for sure improve.
Do you know that people still call 112 to question for their admitted relative at MDH; as well they request an ambulance for a scratch in their feet or for a broken hand????
Please maltese public do leave ambulances for emergencies only!!
They were FIRST on the scene, as evidenced by amateur video aired on two Maltese TV-channel prime-time news bulletins, we do get webstreaming here, y'know! And the CPD's Garibaldi came much later to attempt to tow into salvage what remained of the burnt superstructure of the trimaran.
Contrary to what CPD Director, ex-Lieut. Col. Peter Cordina said (I served under his command when still in Malta), the Maritime Squadron Melita SAR-launch did not, as it cannot (not abilitated) tow the burnt hull remants to the Haywharf Base, despite the Harbour Master's insistence given the magisterial enquiry underway. The AFM argued their spare space is already cluttered with illegal migrants' fibreglass boats, rendering the area like a veritbale marine scrapyard.
What the Norwegian tourist failed to appreciate was that in such cases priority is given to saving life prior to saving property, and that this casualty's burns needed that he'd be stabilised for movement, diminishing risk of infection and shock from loss of fluids or other. A helicopter on the scene would not have helped anymore than the ERT/EMT first aid treatment being administered, but would only have served to dramatise more with noise and rotor downwash the scene like some TV-show.