Prelim. findings: no breach in Wave Dancer hull
She’s been lying on her side in the waters of the Big Creek Port since she capsized during Hurricane Iris in early October, but today, the diveboat the Wave Dancer was again afloat. Salvage crews have been working since October twenty-third to pump the boat free of the water and mud that have accumulated since her accident. News 5 was in Big Creek today and have only just returned with these pictures.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
Today, the Wave Dancer sits motionless alongside a salvage barge in the waters of the Big Creek Port. Officials tell News 5 the boat can float on its own, but she has been strapped with safety lines as a precaution. The boat lists slightly to its side likely because of displaced fuel.
Major Andrew Lewis, Deputy Harbour Master
“The vessel will first come alongside the deep water port here in Big Creek, where all the personal belongings of those people who perished will be taken off and the vessel will be anchored back in the harbour, hopefully for sail.”
It is believed no less than four investigation teams have been assigned to the case. Beside the Port Authority, the Belize Police Department and lawyers for both the families of the victims and the Peter Hughes Company, owners of the Wave Dancer, will be sending various experts to inspect the boat.
Preliminary findings by the salvage crew indicate that there appears to be no breach in the boat’s hull, putting a serious dent in the theory that a barge docked alongside the Wave Dancer broke free of its lines during the hurricane and slammed into the diveboat.
Major Andrew Lewis
“Hopefully they’ll find out exactly what happened and try to quell all the rumours and put the stats correct. It has been rumoured that the hull was hit. We’ve looked at some of the pictures and it doesn’t show anything like that. We’re hoping that when that vessel comes up we can look at it and determine exactly what happened.”
Peter Hughes and a team of his lawyers were at the port today, but declined interviews citing the pending lawsuits. Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
The company in charge of the salvaging operation is Titan Maritime, out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While officials would not tell us how much this operation is costing the Peer Hughes Company, News 5 understands that the day rate just to have the salvage barge on hand is ten thousand U.S. dollars, that’s not even including the cost of its crew.
