Monday, 21st July 2008 - 09:17CET
Rescue captain recounts fishermen's ordeal
The raft on which the fishermen rested.
The fishing boat Grecale, which rescued Simon Bugeja, the sole survivor of the Simshar, returned to Malta this morning.
Its master Mark Bugeja pointed to a raft which Simon fashioned in the water by lashing together four floats and a net containing empty bottles and other floating objects.
He said that Simon Bugeja explained that the Simshar caught fire and took some time to sink, during which time he managed to put some floating material together to form the raft. All the four-man crew and 11-year-old Theo were able to hang on to the raft and were able to rest on it, two at a time.
The first words Simon said on being rescued was that all the others had died. Theo, his son, passed away on Thursday and slipped from his tired arms on Friday morning, a few hours before the rescue.
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Comments
JC-London
Paul you raise very valid points, but I wouldn't be so hasty to say 'They Would Have Been Found'! Let us not forget that last month a pleasure craft sank that had amateur fishermen on board, they made the Mayday distress call on their VHF and were told position acknowledged, and we all know their fate!! No one came looking for them as they thought the call was a joke. In this case a Mayday would have raised the alert and hopefully provided position information to the closest ship/station.
Even with an EPIRB, a rescue is not initiated until a call is made to the the designated emergency contact in order to verify whether the vessel is in distress. Often that number is first the vessels satellite phone if available and then a relative on land, but a working activated EPIRB is a life saver, combined with a life raft and flares.
I totally agree with the points that you made concerning the equipment, but relying on just one piece of equipment is not enough, especially if that then fails. A working registered EPIRB or PLB and flares/strobe are in my humble opinion the most important items
prayers are with the victims' families left behind
In New York yesterday an athlete died competing in a triathlon. I'm going to read a quote from the New York Post.
"Race and law enforcement officials declined to immediately identify the fallen athlete, pending notification of his family in Argentina."
So this has nothing to do with his race. it's the right thing to do.
Why were the search members instructed to look for a boat and not for the possibility of people in the sea? If it had been taken into consideration the search would have been conducted differently!
How come the Italian helicopter did not spot Simon waving at him when it was supposedly looking for them?
My prayers are with the victim's families and may all the questions be answered properly so everyone can learn from any mistakes made.
If the life raft worked they would almost deifinitly survived and been found.
If they had flares the helicopter would have seen them and they would have been found.
If they had a EPIRB they would have been found.
If they had a hand held VHF they would have been able to continue to call for help and been found.
None of the above basic safety features seem to have been available. Only one of them was needed and they would have survived. Not even life jackets seem to have been available.
Dont blame the AFM!!
I think that more education on saftey at sea especially for fisherman who spend their lives out there is needed.
2. Why didn't the helicopter that was flying over Simon and Teo help?
My whole family's thoughts and prayers are with the victims' families.
And as far as the criticisms of the AFM search go, anyone who has been to sea will tell you its not so easy to spot someone in the water, even if they fall off the boat you happen to be on. Its a big sea out there and all the more reason to be cautious.
Like the Simshar case, rumour then had it that the liferaft "didn't open". (The owner of the yacht was in fact found with another survivor - now dead - on a dinghy.) Rumours were later going round that owners of "neighbouring" vessels in the yacht marina knew that the life-raft on such yacht needed servicing or something, & had even offered their own life rafts to the yacht's owner prior to their departure on the ill-fated trip. Unfortunately, such rumours cannot be verified, both such "neighbours" having since died, at least 1 of them himself under awful circumstances. The owner of the ill-fated vessel, as in this case, is the sole remaining survivor. I sincerely hope that this sad story will inspire him to clarify the various inconsistencies about what happened on that fateful nght in June 1990.
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims' families left behind, that somehow with God's grace they may find solace.
Lets not point fingers but make sure that this does not happen again, ever.
If the boat was equipped even with the smallest model of an automatic inflatable life raft, the chances are that this dreadful ordeal would never have happened. These life rafts are always equipped with rations and all the other necessary material to help being located and keep alive and until help arrives.
Can somebody enlighten us on the Maltese maritime law concerning obligatory security equipment to be on this type of fishing vessel, whether private or not?
But still, some explanation needs to be given especially by our authorities about the procedures used for rescue. There are a lot of ifs and buts to be answered by those who are responsible.
So please, set up a proper enquiry and let the truth be know and take adequate measures so that this does not happen again.
Condolences to the families who have lost their loved ones in this ordeal.
I would like to offer my condolences to all their friends and families, and to all friends and families of Mr. Bugeja please care for him as he has been to hell and back and no person should ever go through what he went through. My thoughts are with all of you.