Spice Islander I.
 The Spice Islander I on the Beach (2010)
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The Spice Islander I was a Tanzanian RoPax ferry that wrecked on September 10, 2011 between the islands of Unguja and Pemba in the Zanzibar archipelago, 50 km apart . More than 1,500 people were killed in the accident. This was Tanzania's biggest shipping disaster, killing even more people than when the Bukoba sank on Lake Victoria in 1996.
story
The 60 meter long and 11.4 meter wide ship was built in 1967 in Greece as a landing craft and initially went under the name Marianna . Before or in 1976, it was in Apostolos P renamed. Within the port city of Piraeus , there was a change of ownership from Thelogos P Naftiliaki to Apostolos Shipping in the 1980s. In the 1990s it was acquired by Saronikos Ferries for regular services on the Piraeus – Aegina – Angistri route . In 2005 the ship sailed for Hellenic Seaways. In 2007, the Tanzanian shipping company Makame Hasnuu bought the ferry and renamed it MV Spice Islander I order.
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On September 25, 2007, the ship suffered an engine failure caused by contaminated fuel during a transfer voyage from Oman to Tanzania without passengers off the coast of Somalia . The US -American destroyer Stout by the international assurance fleet secured the NUC ship, the ten-man crew supplied with fresh water and provisions, replacing approximately 30,000 liters of fuel. After that, the ship was able to continue its voyage.
Downfall
The Spice Islander I had an accident on September 10, 2011 at around 1 a.m. local time between the islands of Unguja and Pemba, which are part of the Zanzibar archipelago, at a deep point with a strong current. The scene of the accident was outside of Nungwi Bay, about 25 kilometers from Stone Town ( Zanzibar ). The ship left the port city on Unguja on September 9 at 9 p.m. According to initial media reports , at least 800 people were on board the ship, which was approved for around 650 passengers and 45 crew members . The Minister for Disaster Management, Mohamed Aboud , confirmed that the ship was allowed to carry a maximum of "around 600 people", but that unregistered passengers had also gained access to the ship on the night of the accident. According to him, 197 people were killed in the accident, while 619 people were saved. The death toll was later corrected to 203.
A week after the accident, the Tanzanian daily The Guardian contradicted the official information and claimed that there were more than 2,000 passengers on board the ship. She relied on officials from the regional administration in North Pemba, who said that 1,600 people were affected in their district alone, including 1,141 people from the area around the town of Wete. On October 14, 2011, a good month after the accident, the Zanzibar government released completely new figures. Vice President Seif Ali Iddi informed the House about the fact that 3586 people on board the MV Spice Islander I were. According to his information, 2967 people had been killed or were missing. He confirmed that 203 bodies had been recovered and 619 people were saved. In 2012 the number of victims was corrected again and is now given as 1529 people.
According to eyewitness reports, the ship that started in Dar es Salaam was overloaded with cargo , including vehicles , food , cement and other building materials , as soon as it arrived in Unguja . A load of 425 tons was permitted. Shortly before the fall of the ship began to lurch and got list .
The rescue work could only start the next morning due to the darkness. In addition to the Tanzanian Navy , South African divers and British helicopters also took part in the measures . Fishermen and holiday resorts on Zanzibar made their motor boats and diving equipment available. Authorities confirmed that most of the dead came from Pemba. Among them were numerous families who wanted to return home from their vacation at the end of Ramadan . Foreign holidaymakers were not on board the ship.
After the accident, the government of Zanzibar ordered a three-day state mourning . In the stadium of the island of Unguja, the bereaved relatives of the victims gathered for a funeral the morning after the accident. Just a week after the accident, the judicial authorities brought charges against four people, including in absentia against the captain of the ship, who was still missing at the time. In March 2020, the Supreme Court acquitted all twelve of the defendants, including the first mate, the first machinist and partner in the operating company Visiwani Shipping Company, for lack of evidence.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Mwinyi Sadallah: Confirmed: 2,900 people died in Zanzibar's ferry tragedy ( Memento from January 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), IPP Media, October 16, 2011.
- ^ A b Isles To Build Passenger Cargo Vessel , Daily News, November 12, 2012.
- ^ Greek Shipping Directory , In: Greek Shipping Publications , Piraeus, 1976, p. 54.
- ↑ a b M / S Marianna , Fakta om Fartyg. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
- ↑ USS Stout Assists Distressed Vessel Off Somali Coast ( Memento October 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), US Navy press release, September 27, 2007.
- ^ Zanzibar ferry disaster: Scores die, many more rescued , BBC News , September 10, 2011
- ↑ Facts about the ferry “MV Spice Islander” , Ruhr Nachrichten , September 10, 2011
- ↑ a b c Zanzibar vows star action over ferry disaster ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Chicago Tribune , September 11, 2011
- ↑ a b 4 Charged in Deadly Tanzania Ferry Accident , Voice of America , September 17, 2011
- ↑ Tales of cruising graves ( Memento of 26 December 2011 at the Internet Archive ) , IPP Media, September 18 2011th
- ↑ Tanzania mourns the victims of the ferry disaster , Zeit Online , September 11, 2011
- ↑ a b Sansibar mourns its victims , Frankfurter Rundschau , September 12, 2011
- ↑ Court Acquits MV Spice Islander Officials at ulizalinks.co.ke , March 28, 2020.
