7 dead, 9 missing, 21 survivors

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33940, 5 September 1975, Page 1

7 dead, 9 missing, 21 survivors

(New Zealand Press Association) WHANGAREI, September 4. The body of a man was found in the sea about 3 p.m. today by the deep-sea fishing boat Matira, one of the craft assisting in the search for survivors after the disastrous fire aboard the freighter Capitaine Bougainville early yesterday morning.

Three bodies have now been recovered, and four sighted. There are 21 survivors from the ship’s crew of 29 and eight passengers.

Two of the four search and rescue field teams which have been criss-crossing areas of probability since 6 a.m. today have completed searches of their designated areas. The Whangarei police held a conference this evening, but there is little likelihood of the search being scaled down in any way, according to SeniorSergeant W. D. Hall. Smouldering pockets of fire are still breaking out sporadically in the ship itself, according to Whangarei’s Chief Fire Officer (Mr A. R. Lyford). Firemen are still on duty’ beside the blackened freighter, berthed at Marsden Point. A shaken Captain J Thomas, his voice breaking with emotion, this afternoon paid tribute to two missing heroes of the Capitaine Bougainville disaster. “I discovered heroes in my radio officer and my chief mate,” he told a press conference. “All the people have been fantastic. There was never any panic.” Visibly upset. Captain Thomas several times almost broke down as he recounted the tragedy which overtook his ship. The disaster has not only cost him his command but the presumed loss of his wife and his three children. "My wife died from cold and exposure aboard the lifeboat,” he said. ‘Conditions awful’ The ordeal and its grim outcome began about 2.40 a.m. yesterday when the chief engineer, Mr P. Alefaio. of Suva, and the chief officer, Mr F. O’Brien, roused the captain and told him of the fire raging in the engine room. “I told the chief mate to try to keep the fire under control,” Captain Thomas said. He went to the bridge. Just before the blaze cut power in the ship, her position was flashed to Auckland Marine Radio about 2.45 a.m. “The anchor was dragging because the cable was too tight. About 3 a.m., I decided to abandon ship,” said Captain Thomas. “We lowered the port side lifeboats, and the starboard side iiferafts. Conditions were awful to abandon ship,” he said. As the fire roared on, a passenger and a baby were helped into the first liferaft, as well as the wife of a crewman. Painters securing one boat and a raft were snapped by the surging waves. “We were left with one lifeboat.” Captain Thomas said. “We all managed to get in it. Conditions were very hard. The lifeboat had been damaged against the shin’s hull.” While the chief officer, Mr

Fokinga O’Brien, from the Ellice Islands, ensured everyone had life-jackets, and helped people off the ship, the Filipino' radio officer, Mr Alexander Balatico, continued to send out Mayday signals. He remained at his post until alfnost asphyxiated by fumes from the fire, and had to be dragged by the captain from his smoke-filled shack. Soon after, the last lifeboat lurched away from the ship. “I was the last to leave,” Captain Thomas said. “We started drifting. We tried to use the oars, but waves were breaking over us, and the rudder was carried away.” Five or 10 minutes after leaving the ship, a giant wave overturned the lifeboat, and some, including Mr Balatico, disappeared. Lost in surf “We all managed to climb on to the keel of the lifeboat,” Captain Thomas said. “I swam and picked my wife up, and put her back on board. “Maybe a dozen times we turned over before we reached near the beach. “The breakers were very, very bad, and some men who are missing were lost in them —some men who had been alive maybe five minutes before. “I was the first to stand on the beach,” Captain Thomas said. “I’m sorry, that’s all.” Near to tears, he .rejoined his men in the Hora Hora Hall before leaving by bus for Auckland. As they left, they were presented with a bouquet of pink carnations bearing a card from local well-wishers saying: “To Captain Thomas and crew, wishing you all the best. The girls of Whangarei.” In Auckland A bus load of 16 crewmen from the Capitaine Bougainville arrived in drizzling rain in Auckland this afternoon clad in the bright, fashionable clothes they had bought on a shopping expedition at Whangarei this morning. Many of the Fijian and New Caledonian crew had grazed foreheads and were looking a little dazed and shy in the Sofrana Uni line office. They had travelled for four hours in a bus from Whangarei, and arrived after 4 p.m. From the office, 12 of the men went to the Auckland Sailors’ Home and four to the South Pacific Hotel to await word as to whether they will be required to attend the preliminary inquiry into the cause of fire aboard the ship. A confidential inquiry was held last night by the Auckland Regional Marine Officer (Mr J. F. Bumand), assisted by the Auckland Marine Division and rescue co-

ordinator (Captain P. M. Kershaw) and Mr J. Gladwin. Flights home for the crew have been booked for tomorrow and Sunday, but their departure will not be certain until it is known if a full inquiry will be held, and whether the crew men must attend it. , Memorial service They will, however, attend a memorial service at 11 a.m. tomorrow at the Mission to Seamen Flying Angel Chapel. The freight manager for Sofrana Uniline (Mr F. B. Hurst) said that insurance assessors would go over the Capitaine Bougainville tomorrow, but he understood the ship was a write-off. Mr Hurst said there had been a lot of speculation about the cause of the fire. “Until it has been reported to the Marine Division correctly, it would be wrong for me to speculate,” he said,