Report finally released on Wave Dancer tragedy
It was the worst maritime disaster in Belize’s modern history, not to mention the worst single accident ever recorded in the annals of recreational scuba diving. What I’m taking about is the sinking of the motor vessel Wave Dancer, which went down in the port of Big Creek during Hurricane Iris on October eighth, 2001, with a loss of seventeen passengers and three crew, two of whom were Belizeans.
Now, over three years after the tragedy, IMMARBE, the International Merchant Marine Registry of Belize, has issued its final report on the incident. And while the evaluation and recommendations of the report will not erase the loss of life, they may prevent future tragedies from occurring in Belizean waters.
According to IMMARBE’s Director General, Angelo Mouzouropoulos, while the proximate cause of the boat’s sinking was the extraordinary force of the over one hundred and fifty mile per hour winds, there were specific reasons why what began as a fun filled live-aboard dive cruise ended in the death of twenty people.
Angelo Mouzouropoulos, Director General, IMMARBE
?It?s a combination of factors. Firstly, I think the boat stayed out too long. The boat should have actually come and landed its passengers a lot earlier and in that way the situation which arose in Big Creek would be largely avoided. The second factor was that there had been failures, both in the mooring arrangement of the ship, the actual boat.?
Stewart Krohn
?Go through some of the most important recommendations and what not.?
Angelo Mouzouropoulos
?Well the first one is that as soon as a hurricane watch is declared, the boats should be instructed to come in. They will then liaise with the Belize Port Authority, telling the Belize Port Authority where they will land their passengers. The Belize Port Authority will send a representative locally in order to see the passengers off the boat. They will also, as part of the hurricane plan, inform the Belize Port Authority that the passengers are disembarking, where they are taking them to, and where they will take the boat to; that?s the first recommendation. The second recommendation is that each operator of a live-aboard dive boat should have his own means of transporting the passengers and non-essential crew away from the boat into the interior, away from harms way. As we have seen on this occasion, it?s extremely difficult to get passengers away from the coast at a time when the coastal area is being evacuated, by using buses or anything of the kind. The means of transportation are simply not there, or if they are, they are heavily overloaded with local passengers. So to get say twenty, thirty people of your own and keep them all together and take them into the interior is simply not possible unless you have your own means of transportation. Now that too, the particular companies involved have implemented that.?
And what about steps to protect the interests of local crewmembers?
Angelo Mouzouropoulos
?One of the observations that we had in this particular instance was that in fact the non-Belizean crew members had contracts of employment in writing that stipulated the insurance provisions, for example, in case of death, or partial disability, or any form of injury or sickness. The Belizean crew members did not have any contract of employment, and consequently in an incident such as this one, it is not clear what the amounts of the insurance cover were, what they were insured for. That we found an unfair situation and we made our recommendation that in fact the contracts of employment for Belizeans crewmembers should be evidenced in writing and the terms of these obviously have to be agreed and well known in advanced to the crew members.?
Stewart Krohn
?With Belize becoming increasingly popular as a tourism destination, more live-aboard dive boats coming, are you satisfied that where we stand today in 2005, that what happened with Hurricane Iris in 2001 could not happen again??
Angelo Mouzouropoulos
?I?m satisfied that if these recommendations are followed there cannot be an accident afloat of the type that we have actually experienced in the case of the Wave Dancer. Purely and simply because the people concerned, the crew members or the non-essential crew, as well as the passengers, will not be afloat; they will be in the interior.?
Belize crew members who perished aboard the Wave Dancer were Eloisa Johnson and Brenda Wade. Only three passengers and five crew members survived the sinking, while one Belizean crew member, Angela Luk, resisted her captain’s requests to stay aboard and got off the ship at Big Creek, prior to the storm. The full text of the report, which should be required reading for all Belizean boat operators, can be found at www.immarbe.com by clicking on the marine casualty section.
