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Maritime Court reserves ruling on MFV Meob Bay sea disaster

Maritime Court reserves ruling on MFV Meob Bay sea disaster

A MARINE Court of Enquiry into Namibia’s deadliest sea disaster, the sinking of the the MFV Meob Bay in June 2002, reserved its judgement at the weekend on the question whether the doomed vessel’s skipper was responsible for the death of 19 of the trawler’s crew members.

Lawyers representing the MFV Meob Bay’s skipper, Jacques de Kock, and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication placed their final arguments before the court on Saturday. The court, consisting of a South African professor in maritime law, Hilton Staniland, trade unionist Alfred Angula, marine engineer Ronald Bramwell, from the Pelagic Fishing Association of Namibia, and maritime engineer E.Oskarsson, from the Namibian Maritime and Fisheries Institute, reserved its judgement late on Saturday evening, having sat well into the night to conclude the hearing of the lawyers’ arguments.The MFV Meob Bay sank within an hour after it had sailed out of the port of Luederitz late on the afternoon of June 7 2002.It was sailing in a south-westerly direction from Luederitz when, about four nautical miles out of the port, disaster struck.A rope, anchored to the seabed, which had been left in the ocean – allegedly by a diamond-mining vessel, Lady S – was picked up by the MFV Meob Bay’s propeller.With the rope becoming entangled in the propeller, the ship was doomed.Attached to the rope, the powerless vessel swung around to have its rear towards the swell which, with a strong wind of 36 knots, was between four and six metres high.Unable to ride the swell because it was fastened to the rope, the boat quickly started to take in water.Within a matter of five to ten minutes, she sank.Of the crew of 28, only nine survived.The bodies of 12 of the other crew members were later recovered from the bitterly cold water.The other seven crew members are still missing, presumed dead.With that, the sinking of the MFV Meob Bay was the maritime disaster with the highest death toll yet in Namibian waters.The core issue that the Court of Maritime Enquiry has been asked to rule on, is whether the sunken ship’s skipper had caused the loss of life of crew members by having failed to ensure that the crew was properly instructed in the handling and operation of safety equipment on board the MFV Meob Bay.De Kock’s legal representative, Rudi Cohrssen, argued on Saturday that there was no evidence to show that De Kock had been negligent in any manner as far as the dead or missing crew members were concerned.There was no evidence to show that any act or omission by De Kock had caused the death of any crew member, according to Cohrssen.In written arguments, Cohrssen set out his case that De Kock, who was the last man off the sinking ship, had in fact played a heroic role in the fateful minutes that followed on the snaring on the rope:”The competence, calmness and courage of Mr De Kock during the sequence of events leading up to the sinking of the Meob Bay, and his selfless conduct during and after the sinking of the vessel clearly demonstrates his approach to seamanship and his overriding concern for the safety of his crew.Mr De Kock’s conduct in literally placing his own interests last and in one way or another saving the lives of all the survivors deserves admiration and respect, not imposition of criminal charges and blame.”Ruben Philander, the lawyer from the Office of the Attorney General who is representing the Permanent Secretary of Works, Transport and Communication, agreed with Cohrssen in that respect – but only up to a point.As he stated in a section of his written submissions to the court:”The skipper did a commendable job when the vessel sank by trying to save his crew members.But it is no use trying to close the stable door after the horse has bolted.If his crew was properly trained on how to use life rafts spontaneously and what to do in cases of emergency, this might have saved lives.”He argued that the crew of the MFV Meob Bay had not undergone the sort of repeated safety training drills that he said the law prescribes in Namibia, and as a result of that the court had to find that De Kock had been “grossly negligent” and thereby contributed to the loss of life.Cohrssen also addressed the court on an additional point:the matter of the floating rope which caused the tragedy in the first place.NamPort had known about this hazard in the ocean, but both the parastatal and Government failed to either have it removed or to issue proper navigational warnings about its presence, and it was that failure, rather than anything now attributed to De Kock, that led to the disaster, he charged.The court, consisting of a South African professor in maritime law, Hilton Staniland, trade unionist Alfred Angula, marine engineer Ronald Bramwell, from the Pelagic Fishing Association of Namibia, and maritime engineer E.Oskarsson, from the Namibian Maritime and Fisheries Institute, reserved its judgement late on Saturday evening, having sat well into the night to conclude the hearing of the lawyers’ arguments.The MFV Meob Bay sank within an hour after it had sailed out of the port of Luederitz late on the afternoon of June 7 2002.It was sailing in a south-westerly direction from Luederitz when, about four nautical miles out of the port, disaster struck.A rope, anchored to the seabed, which had been left in the ocean – allegedly by a diamond-mining vessel, Lady S – was picked up by the MFV Meob Bay’s propeller.With the rope becoming entangled in the propeller, the ship was doomed.Attached to the rope, the powerless vessel swung around to have its rear towards the swell which, with a strong wind of 36 knots, was between four and six metres high.Unable to ride the swell because it was fastened to the rope, the boat quickly started to take in water.Within a matter of five to ten minutes, she sank.Of the crew of 28, only nine survived.The bodies of 12 of the other crew members were later recovered from the bitterly cold water.The other seven crew members are still missing, presumed dead.With that, the sinking of the MFV Meob Bay was the maritime disaster with the highest death toll yet in Namibian waters.The core issue that the Court of Maritime Enquiry has been asked to rule on, is whether the sunken ship’s skipper had caused the loss of life of crew members by having failed to ensure that the crew was properly instructed in the handling and operation of safety equipment on board the MFV Meob Bay.De Kock’s legal representative, Rudi Cohrssen, argued on Saturday that there was no evidence to show that De Kock had been negligent in any manner as far as the dead or missing crew members were concerned.There was no evidence to show that any act or omission by De Kock had caused the death of any crew member, according to Cohrssen.In written arguments, Cohrssen set out his case that De Kock, who was the last man off the sinking ship, had in fact played a heroic role in the fateful minutes that followed on the snaring on the rope:”The competence, calmness and courage of Mr De Kock during the sequence of events leading up to the sinking of the Meob Bay, and his selfless conduct during and after the sinking of the vessel clearly demonstrates his approach to seamanship and his overriding concern for the safety of his crew.Mr De Kock’s conduct in literally placing his own interests last and in one way or another saving the lives of all the survivors deserves admiration and respect, not imposition of criminal charges and blame.”Ruben Philander, the lawyer from the Office of the Attorney General who is representing the Permanent Secretary of Works, Transport and Communication, agreed with Cohrssen in that respect – but only up to a point.As he stated in a section of his written submissions to the court:”The skipper did a commendable job when the vessel sank by trying to save his crew members.But it is no use trying to close the stable door after the horse has bolted.If his crew was properly trained on how to use life rafts spontaneously and what to do in cases of emergency, this might have saved lives.”He argued that the crew of the MFV Meob Bay had not undergone the sort of repeated safety training drills that he said the law prescribes in Namibia, and as a result of that the court had to find that De Kock had been “grossly negligent” and thereby contributed to the loss of life.Cohrssen also addressed the court on an additional point:the matter of the floating rope which caused the tragedy in the first place.NamPort had known about this hazard in the ocean, but both the parastatal and Government failed to either have it removed or to issue proper navigational warnings about its presence, and it was that failure, rather than anything now attributed to De Kock, that led to the disaster, he charged.

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