Screenshots: Tioman ferry tragedy

UPDATED VERSION. Today, I came to grip with a group of survivors of the Tioman ferry tragedy on 1 Syawal in which four were drowned, and three went missing after they were forced to jump into the sea from the blazing vessel.

I learned that an extended family of 24 members from Klang -- 14 adults and 10 children -- jumped into the sea with only two equipped with life-jackets. Casualties were devastating for the families: Two dead and one missing.

Miraculously, all 10 children survived.

According to witnesses' account, not a single member of the Marine Police or Marine Department were at the scene to launch immediate search and rescue efforts. All survivors were rescued by passing civilian ferries.

Survivor Sylvia Lucas (in white mourning dress), who helped save many lives until she was flatly exhausted, testified her horror experience in a press conference facilitated by the DAP

LensaPress photos by Jeff Ooi (test-firing the 5 mega-pixel Nokia N95)

The victims wanted the government authorities, the ferry operator, the travel agency, the Johor state government and Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy to give a commitment towards their claims for compensation.

The print and electronic media turned up in full force, and all witnesses were made available for their no-holds-barred questioning. Let's see if they were given a fair hearing.

Will a panel of inquiries be set up to probe the tragedy? Will expensive consultants be engaged to probe and recommend preventive measures? Will a Ministerial level Committee be formed to study the investigation reports and evaluate the consultants' recommendations? Will the case be soon forgotten and similar tragedies recur?

Or simply ask, will our Transport Minister -- who is responsible for all sea, land, air transport, and is responsible for the recent spade of tragedies in multi-modal transports -- simply shed a tear lest they had all died in vain?

I SAID TRAGEDIES 'RECURRING' -- because Malaysiakini reader Alicia Au had already warned the Transport Minister of the tragedy in her open letter June 12 last year, titled: A Tioman disaster waiting to happen.

Obviously, Kong Choy wasn't listening.

From the archive of Malaysiakini

A Tioman disaster waiting to happen
Alicia Au
Jun 12, 06 4:19pm

On Saturday June 3, we boarded a ferry service at Mersing for the trip to Tioman island for our holiday.

Once the boat is fully packed; yes, you did read correctly, it is packed not loaded; because as always with Bluewater (the ferry operator), the boats are grossly overloaded, in this instance with 10 persons, including one baby in arms, standing in the aisle or precariously in the rear deck well of this small boat where they are at liberty to breath in the aromatic scent of engine exhaust fumes.

Off we go, finally leaving the jetty at around 7.10am, down the river we go to come to a grinding halt on the sandbank. After an hour, a smaller boat came along side and 75 percent of the passengers were asked to cross deck to the smaller boat, which then takes us clear of the sand bar, out to the open sea.

One point to note concerning cross-decking, according to Mersing Maritime police, is that whenever the ferry operators need to cross deck passengers, they are required to inform the police in advance, and a maritime police vessel must be in attendance. No sight of such here, or as you will see, on the next occasion.

The boats finally arrive in Tioman where for the next day or so, the fruits of the island are enjoyed by all, wonderful diving opportunities, very good food and accommodation, until finally it is time to depart on the 3pm boat to Mersing, once again with Bluewater services.

To start with, we arrive at the jetty in good time, generally for a 3pm boat, and with this particular operator, the boats are always a good 30 to 45 minutes late in arriving, however as always, we are on the jetty in good time, 15 minutes before the scheduled 3pm arrival.

At 5pm, there is no sign of the boat and after calls to Mersing and the Bluewater office, we are finally told that the delays and missing boat are because the Maritime police are stopping the Bluewater boats as they depart Mersing and issuing summons for being overloaded, having defective equipment, etc.

Finally at 6.15pm, a large Bluewater ferry, numbered 9, arrives and collects us from the jetty. We were accompanied by another Bluewater ferry, numbered 8. On ferry 9 there is a wide cross section of people, ranging from very young children, through to parents and elderly grandparents, and including one gentleman in a wheelchair. As we sit gazing out at the sunset, at around 7.10pm, ferry 9 suddenly slows down and pulls alongside ferry 8.

In this fading light, the doors are opened and without any warning, or even a polite request, the crew demands that passengers from ferry 9 cross deck to ferry 8.

Now consider this when the boats are in mid-water, at dusk with land was out of sight. The crew forced people across from one boat to another, despite protests being made that this was dangerous, illegal, and downright stupid. Women, children, the elderly and the wheelchair passenger were all forced across the widely moving gap between the two boats.

Protests to the captain of ferry 9 fell upon deaf ears. It was quite obvious, from the nature of this action, that this dangerous transfer at sea was premeditated for at any time during the early parts of the voyage, this transfer could have been effected in total safety whilst the boats were located at the same jetty.

Ferry 8 was by now grossly overcrowded, the forward emergency exit was blocked by the passenger in the wheelchair, the port and starboard exits were blocked by mountains of baggage and by people crammed into the small available space. People were standing in the rear deck well, sitting on the stairway to the upper deck, with even people squatting in the toilet because the boat was so overloaded, blocked the aft exit.

As the boat approaches Mersing, it again stops and it is the same old story - we are asked to cross deck into smaller boats for the journey to Mersing jetty. Again women, children, the elderly are forced to jump down from a high ferry to a much lower-lying speed boat, the jump was some four feet. No assistance from crew members as they are to busy holding onto the ropes. So everyone was forced to look after themselves in making this leap, literally into the dark.

We hear a mumble from a crew person that this is necessary because the tide is too low for the ferry. However, 15 minutes after disembarking at the jetty, the large ferry comes up river and also moors.

When making a police report, we were advised that Bluewater had been receiving a large number of summonses during the day mainly for this practice of overloading and we were further advised that cross-decking of passengers is only allowed under the direct supervision of the maritime authorities. This operator shows a blatant disregard for passenger safety, their arrogance and the high-handed manner they deal with their clients has to be experienced to be believed.

At the very least, the captains of Bluewater ferries 8 and 9 should have their certification revoked, their comments and attitudes show them to be quite unfit to hold a position of any responsibility. One can only surmise, as on this occasion they were lucky. Should an accident have occurred, they would no doubt be running for cover and pointing the finger of blame everywhere except at the people it should be pointed at, themselves.

Issuing summonses against the operator is a joke. Any paltry fine likely as the outcome of this weekend’s shenanigans will be far outweighed by the collections from fare-paying clients they regard as so much cattle. Again at the very least, this company’s licence to operate should be revoked with immediate effect, and thus send a message to all ferry services that such downright dangerous practice and poor service attitudes will no longer be tolerated.

The real losers here are the Tourism Board of Malaysia, and the resorts and diving operators on Tioman, whose hard work has been wasted. We as a group will not return to this location, you can be certain that word-of-mouth from such a large group of people will dissuade even larger numbers of people to change their vacation locations to elsewhere.

How long can such poor service be tolerated? Or are the authorities simply waiting to react to a large-scale disaster involving one of these cowboy operators before wringing their hands and saying they were not aware of the situation?

Comments

for sure another knee jerk then all are forgotten !
all same same one

Posted by: toniXe | October 16, 2007 07:26 PM

Posted by: toniXe | October 16, 2007 07:27 PM

it would be soon be forgotten just like other previous tragedies jeff ...

as long as the lives lost were not from the ministers' nothing will be done ...

even if you take the case of highland tower as a case-study whereby top umno's relatives died, it was business as usual ...

cheers ...

Posted by: StockTube | October 16, 2007 07:43 PM

The Bukit Gantang tragedy, just passed us, during the 'Hungry Ghost' period. 20 over souls needlessly died. The authorities slept on the job, people perished. Chan Kong Choy went suddenly on leave, kononnya traumatized, after visiting the scene of the accident, oh yes, many excuses were given. Now another tragedy happens the usual culprits are found once again sleeping on the job!

My sincerest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones. I hope they sue the sleeping authorities for all they have, until they are left only with their undergarments.

Posted by: Major(Rtd)D.Swami | October 16, 2007 08:58 PM

I feel sad over this tragedy. It would be better to start this off at the fundamental safety on board situation, where the ferries personnel would direct them to use the right equipment and conform to the safety rules.

What more disappointing would be the fact that it is on Hari Raya. We're celebrating with friends having nice rendang and ketupat, and someone has to pass away.

I'm even more sad at Nurin's case. Is our children still safe?

Posted by: GordonCK | October 16, 2007 09:23 PM

sudah terhantuk sampai lebam, baru nak terngadah...always like that.

Posted by: sherrina | October 16, 2007 09:36 PM

Jeff, in this particular case, there is one possible reason why this incident can't simply be swept under the carpet.

The reason is an acronym called SOLAS - "Safety of Life at Sea" which is a convention of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), to which Malaysia is a signatory, and more importantly we've ratified it.

It is therefore incumbent upon ourselves to honor the convention, otherwise risking our reputation as a bone fide maritime nation.

I do happen to know that in most cases, the Maritime Department is quite strict when it comes to SOLAS compliance. This fact makes what happened off Tioman, plus the various other non-compliances by various other operators reported by individuals (surfacing as the result of this incident), rather fishy (pun not intended) - it's also good news that the 2 Maritime officers have been suspended immediately, and that the remaining vessels of the operator siezed.

If this investigation is not done right, the consequences are not just domestic.

Posted by: walski69 | October 16, 2007 10:57 PM

Important correction on what I stated earlier:

SOLAS compliance is strictly enforced for vessels servicing the Oil & Gas industry (which I'm quite familiar with), and quite frankly I don't know if our Maritime Department is as strict about it, or not.

Posted by: walski69 | October 16, 2007 11:04 PM

Its another sad day. Semua orang gomen, gaji buta. Menteri sudah lah gaji buta, tak guna langsung!

As usual, the government is only good at management of crisis instead of crisis management!

Whats the use of a ball less Transport minister? He must resign immediately!

Posted by: boleh | October 16, 2007 11:51 PM

Sigh... what do you expect when JERKS are running the country by JERKING THEMSELVES? Enough said!

Posted by: cyleow | October 17, 2007 05:50 AM

tragically Malaysian, from buses, to children, to ferries...

wait for tragedy to strike in our own country, then busy ourselves to fix it and blame it on someone.

we couldn't have learned from all the ferry tragedies befalling the Philippines and Indonesia, we had to experience it ourselves.

typical, tragically Malaysian.

Posted by: aput83 | October 17, 2007 08:57 AM

The PM set a very good example by 'administrating' the Johor floods by remote control from Perth last year. Now we have the Transport Minister doing the same.

How difficult is it for you jack asses to get into a helicopter and go out to the scene and take the responsibilty and do your own investigation instead of waiting for a report? Why don't I write a report to your mama that you have no brain or soul?

Maybe the helicopters you have are not safe due to the lack of maintenance?

Shaking hands with the free loaders at the Open house is more important? Remeber, free loaders will not give you the vote because their eyes and stomach can be won over by a better free buffet. You would have gotten more votes if you had gone out to the scene but I suspect your PR guys were on holiday too so your pea brain could not possibly have thought about that.

Looks like the Transport Minister have a lot on his plate. Wonder if he can sleep at night with all the lost souls haunting him. Need another holiday to get over this?

Posted by: nyc | October 17, 2007 10:14 AM

cyleow,

They're not jerking themselves. They didn't learn that. They're jerking the Cash Cows for more milk before they're removed from the Animal Farm.

Posted by: LC Teh | October 17, 2007 10:57 AM

and I'm not talking about the cows.

Posted by: LC Teh | October 17, 2007 11:00 AM

And the offending ferry operator Bluewater mentioned in Alicia Au's report is the operator given a clean bill of health by the Marine Dept in today's STAR. God!!! What has this country sunk to. No wonder the ferry operator whose ferry caught fire, Seagull must be much worse going by Alicia's report that Bluewater, cleared by the Marine Dept, operates in such a dangerous manner.

Chan Kong Choy, go and pay your respects to those who died. The buck stops with you and it is plain your men has abdicated their responsibility for reasons best known to them. The decent thing for you to do is to apologise to the families of the victims and ask their forgiveness.

Posted by: Justice Bao | October 17, 2007 11:40 AM

http://blogging-johnny.blogspot.com/2007/10/appreciate-but-at-same-time.html

Here's what my girlfriend told. She was told to head out to search either 8am or 9am(somewhere around that time). They wait for it and asked the marine police if they can head out already or not but the marine police said that they need to wait for the YB(Yang Berhormat) to come first.

The operation was delayed till the arrival of the FIRST YB and the YB with marine police head out without the victim's relatives. They said that they still need to wait for another YB which turn out to be late again. Again, they stranded at the dock waiting for the YB to arrive. One is from MCA and another is a malay women. The malay women still don't want the marine police to go out yet. Reason? Don't ask me. My girlfriend's sister cried infront of the malay women YB only she give permission and ask the marine police to head out for the search operation.(I'll talk this part later on)

During the search, I was told by my girlfriend that the marine police didn't want to get close to any of the small tropical island they searched and hope the missing victims was washed by the tide to small island. Well, from here, I do understand between a shallow sea and deep sea. Some boats just can't reach the shores because they might crashed their boat on the rocks in shallow area.
-------------------

This is just an excerpt. Disgusting.

Posted by: C-Fu | October 17, 2007 02:29 PM

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Tioman ferry tragedy

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