The voyage data recorder from the doomed Panamanian-flagged passenger ferry Al Salam Boccaccio 98 was recovered earlier this week in the Red Sea, according to numerous news outlets.The ferry’s so-called black box apparently is undamaged. Experts will analyze the data in Southampton.
Among other information, the black box may indicate the ferry’s course and speed along with the weather conditions when the tragedy occurred. It’s also possible that the data recorder contains voice recordings from the wheelhouse.
More than 1,000 people are dead or missing following the Feb. 3 sinking of the Al
Salam Boccaccio 98 in the Red Sea. The official cause of the disaster remains under investigation, but numerous sources have reported that a fire in the vessel’s hold coupled with the crew’s inability to extinguish it were the likely culprits.
News reports indicated that passengers accused the captain and crew of negligence, saying the captain abandoned ship before ensuring the passengers had left. They also asserted that crew members prevented them from donning life jackets and didn’t assist them into lifeboats. (The captain is among the missing.)
One survivor told the Gold Coast Bulletin, “We were wearing life jackets but the crew told us there was nothing wrong and ordered us to take them off. They took the life jackets away. When the boat started to sink, the captain took a lifeboat and left.”
Another survivor said the captain was the first to leave the sinking vessel, and the crew of roughly 100 “just went off in the lifeboats and left us.”
The investigation is being conducted by Egyptian and Panamanian authorities, assisted by French and UK personnel from the International Maritime Organization.
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