Ferry seaman quizzed about bow doors

Press, 10 March 1987, Page 6

Ferry seaman quizzed about bow doors

NZPA-Reuter London Belgian lawyers have questioned the seaman responsible for closing the watertight bow doors on the British ferry that rolled over and sank off Belgium with the loss of 135 lives, British press reports said yesterday. The ferry’s owners, Townsend Thoresen, said they were astonished by survivors’ accounts that crew members battered the doors with sledgehammers in an effort to close them as the Herald of Free Enterprise sailed to its doom out of Zeebrugge harbour on Friday night. A company spokesman, Paul Ovington, said yesterday that water pouring through the doors used to load cars and lorries was believed to have made the vessel heel over as it started its return run to Dover, England, with 543 passengers and crew. "We have accepted that it is something do with the doors. That is how the water rushed in because there is no other hole in the ship,” he told reporters. Britain’s Press Association news agency reported that two Belgian lawyers yesterday questioned the ferry’s assistant boatswain, Marc Stanley, who was responsible for

shutting the doors. Mr Stanley, who was interviewed in a hospital near Bruges after being rescued with 407 other survivors, was quoted as blaming himself for the disaster. Another Townsend Thoresen spokesman told reporters that Mr Stanley, aged 28, was in a distressed state.

“We are not in a position to contradict what he is saying, the spokesman said. “He is a little bit emotional to put it mildly. We are making plans to get him home because he is in a distressed state.”

“The Times” newspaper quoted a third TownsendThoresen spokesman, Raymond Nossent, as saying he had been questioned about persistent reports that three lorry drivers who survived the sinking had described seeing crew members hitting the doors with sledgehammers to close them.

“We find these reports astonishing,” Mr Nossent said. “I cannot comment on that.”

Aerial photographs and television film of the 7951-ton ferry show it lying on its port side with its huge hydraulicallyoperated bow doors gaping open. However, a former captain of a sister ferry to

the sunken ship said the vessel was attempting an emergency stop when it heeled over in freezing seas.

Captain Oliver Elsom said rescue divers had reported finding the propellers of the Herald of Free Enterprise set at full astern, a sign that its captain, David Lewry, was trying to stop the ship.;

A spokeswoman for Townsend Thoresen, Karen Martin, said she could not confirm whether Captain Lewry was attempting an emergency stop. “There are a lot of theories as to what happened. We cannot be certain until inquiries have established the cause of the disaster,” she said. Captain Lewry is in a Belgian hospital suffering from shock and a punctured lung. He may not be fit to answer questions for three weeks, said a lawyer for his trade union.

Ms Martin said ferries left the quay with their bow doors open for technical reasons, and closed them shortly after clearing the dockside. The vehicle loading doors, located at both the front and back of the rollon, roll-off ferry, are near water level and should be locked before the vessel

moves into open sea. Three investigations are being held into the disaster: by the British and Belgian Governments and by Townsend Thoresen, who said the captain’s log, which could have helped investigators, was still inside the ferry. In a decision reflecting confidence in the design of its ferries, the company said it saw no reason to take identical ships out of service.

All the company’s other roll-on, roll-off ferries sailed yesterday.

As more survivors flew back to Britain, stories of heroism during the disaster continued to emerge.

A man who made himself into a human bridge rescued 20 passengers, newspapers reported.

The London bank official, Andrew Parker, aged 33, who is 1.9 m tall, stretched between two metal barriers over a water-filled gap in the middle of the ship and allowed screaming men, women and children to climb across his body. His wife, Eleanor, and their 12-year-old daughter, Janice, were among those enabled to reach safety.

Mr Parker told reporters that he eventually got himself clear when he was handed a baby to rescue.