Reading some of the first news reports about the sinking of the Panamanian-flag ferry Al Salam Boccaccio 98 last month in the Red Sea, I kept hoping that the articles were wrong. The disaster itself, which looks to have claimed more than 1,000 lives, is bad enough. But the circumstances, which include unofficial allegations of incompetence by crew members and abandonment by the captain, make it even worse.Investigations on this scale typically take a long time, and that’s to be expected when you consider not only the scope of the disaster but also the potential liability. It will take time before all the facts are known. Still, the earliest media coverage of the Feb. 3 sinking near Egypt included some very disturbing points. Passengers said they not only weren’t assisted by the crew, in some cases they actually were told either to remove their life jackets or not to bother putting them on in the first place. This was despite the fact that the ferry was on fire and taking on water.
Survivors also said that the captain didn’t attempt to return the ferry to shore even after the fire started. They claimed that the captain and crew “just went off in the lifeboats and left us.” We may never know about this, as the captain is among the missing. However, one of the ship’s officers said that the crew’s inability to handle firefighting operations caused the sinking.
Again because of the nature of the investigation, it still isn’t clear whether any of the crew members had undergone safety training. But it seems safe to say that no matter their backgrounds, they couldn’t have handled the shipboard emergency any worse.
Can you imagine an American crew reacting like that? Can you imagine U.S. mariners not knowing how to handle a fire and then running away while innocent passengers were left on their own?
The SIU doesn’t work that way. The U.S. Merchant Marine as a whole doesn’t operate that way. I often describe our membership as the best-trained mariners in the world. That’s not just a catch-phrase, it’s the truth. We’re held to a higher standard when it comes to shipboard safety. We exceed a lot of the government’s requirements anyway, through many of the safety courses offered at our affiliated school in Piney Point, Maryland.
Accidents happen. They can happen to anyone. But in this business there’s simply no excuse for not being prepared. That’s especially true on a passenger vessel of any kind.
On that note, I remain proud of the mandatory safety training offered at the Paul Hall Center in Piney Point for all of the crew members heading to the SIU-contracted NCL America ships. The school provides U.S. Coast Guard-certified safety training that includes lifeboat, fire fighting, first aid, CPR and much more. And if you don’t pass the course, you don’t set foot on those ships.
The rest of our membership also is committed to safety. Thousands upon thousands of Seafarers have completed STCW Basic Safety Training at the Paul Hall Center. They and others routinely execute shipboard fire and boat drills and other safety exercises designed to help ensure that if an emergency arises, they’ll react with speed and efficiency.
If all foreign-flag crews consistently were held to the same high standards as we are in the U.S., our industry would be a lot safer. In part, that’s why our union always has been active in the International Transport Workers’ Federation—an organization dedicated to protecting transportation employees all over the world. At its core, the ITF is about doing the right thing. It’s about treating people fairly and promoting safety and productivity for the benefit of all concerned.
The SIU remains fully on board with the ITF’s goals, and that’s why it was so sickening to read about the Al Salam Boccaccio 98. In this day and age, with the safety training that’s available and the sophisticated shipboard equipment that can help save lives, a disaster like this one shouldn’t occur.
Through our unwavering commitment to safety for all mariners around the globe, we’ll do everything possible to help make sure it never happens again.
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