Egypt ferry sinks

[Kapitan]

egyptian ferry has sunk so far 30 survivors out of 1,400

[Etienne]

Authorities claim not to have received a distress signal...

I wonder what happened to the EPIRB. Hope it's not the famous "Sucked through the bridge wing" effect.

[Kapitan]

shouldnt laugh

but RAF Kilnoss has picked up the distress beacon from the ship and the british were the first to find it

[Rotary Crewman]

Terrible news, panicked at first when i heard a cruise ship had gone down as my mom and dad are on one near mexico. Later confirmed as the red sea.

Just out of interest. If a beacon transmits on 121.5 then RAF Kinloss ignore it on the first pass of the sats and wait for a second pass to confirm it.

So considering we waited for a second pass, we still were first

God bless the queen and her beautiful armed forces :cry:

[Kapitan]

now saying 200 people saved

[diver]

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20060203/capt.sge.gyi68.030206125413.photo00.photo.default-384x256.jpg

Heres what she looked like. Not the prettiest vessel ever, didnt look to stable either, tall and skinny with a vehicle deck that's doors were probably not mainatained too well.


Any idea yet as to what cause her loss?

[Kapitan]

i have a hunch same as estonia but instead of the bow door its the stern door that fell off flooding the car deck sinking it.

[JSLTIGER]

I wonder if this will spell the end for RO-RO (roll on, roll of) ferrys, as the papers are already blaming the RO-RO design for the disaster. Personally...I blame the lack of lifeboats! Didn't international law ever learn from the Titanic? You need to have a spot on a lifeboat for each person aboard!

[diver]

I wonder if this will spell the end for RO-RO (roll on, roll of) ferrys, as the papers are already blaming the RO-RO design for the disaster.

I dont think so. It might spell the end of RO-RO's operated by cheap companies held to weak developing nation safety standards.

Modern, safe ships in competent hands are perfectly safe. But from the looks of that ship, i wouldn't have boarded her to cross the red sea if you had payed me.

[Letum]

Wasn't me, honest

[Kapitan]

I have personaly served on RORO ships, and they are very seaworthy vessels, but yes they do have a few design flaws.

Europe is trying to phase out RORO vessel all together as they constitue a massive saftey issue, in a space of 10 years i can think of three such disasters on RORO ferrys.

Scandanavian star

Herald of free enterprise

Estonia

1987 to 1994 thats 7 years and these three accident took place.

[Dowly]

I've actually seen the m/v Estonia in port before she sank. Beautiful ship!

Yes it was. :yep:

[Oberon]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4680752.stm

I've heard a lot of people comparing this with the Titanic. Just goes to show how little is learnt by some countries nearly 100 years on.

[Sulikate]

why exactly did she sink?

[sonar732]

Survivors are saying that there was a fire aboard, not enough lifeboats, and finally...the crew "hoarded" the life jackets.

[Etienne]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4680752.stm

I've heard a lot of people comparing this with the Titanic. Just goes to show how little is learnt by some countries nearly 100 years on.

Goes to show how little the media knows about the maritime industry. It's alway the Titanic. Alway.

Even though modern ships have little in common with the Titanic.

[Etienne]

Just out of interest. If a beacon transmits on 121.5 then RAF Kinloss ignore it on the first pass of the sats and wait for a second pass to confirm it.
:

Nobody just ignores a distress beacon. What happen is that for physical reason, a LUT cannot alway resolve the position of a distress beacon transmitting on 121.5 on the first pass ; they might have to wait until the second pass.

In the case of the 406MHz EPIRB, that is not necessary. (There are also other problems with 121.5, and it's being phased out as we speak) My old copy of IMO's The GMDSS Handbook claims 121.5 as being primarily aeronautical, but ships have been equipped with them. (Or a combination, as aircrafts can home in on 121.5 MHz).

I don't know at the time what kind of beacon the ship had... But it's still weird as heck that the crew didn't send a distress message. Fire on board usually deserves at least an urgency message.

I saw an article where, apparently, a nearby ship heard a distress message from the sinking ferry, but the report didn't say much. Still strange that they didn't manage to contact a coast station.

[Kapitan]

As i understand;

Any emergency warrenting aid or evacuation of any ship any where should send a mayday distress call, or send a mayday call to another ship and have them relay the message.

all it takes is one push of a button and a distress signal can be sent.

[Godalmighty83]

a bit worrying how the RAF discovered the distress beacon before the people it was meant for, hms bulwark was dispatched immediatly but theres not much an assualt ship can do over a day away.

[Kapitan]

Thats why it was it was orderd to turn around.

[JSLTIGER]

Thats why it was it was orderd to turn around.

That and the Egyptian government told them that it was no longer needed.

[Kapitan]

yup mind you the helo's could have been useful

[Rotary Crewman]

121.5 is being phased out, which is why RAF Kinloss (On our visit to the ARCC) recommended (If you were a boating person) to use 243 rather than 121.5

I think the idea of 121.5 is for not only aircraft in distress but also for PLBs (Personal Locator Beacons) which all (Including ships) should have a radio tuned into to listen to.

[Type941]

very sad. :cry:

[Etienne]

I think the idea of 121.5 is for not only aircraft in distress but also for PLBs (Personal Locator Beacons) which all (Including ships) should have a radio tuned into to listen to.

Ships don't keep watch on 121.5 (Not merchant ships, anyway). They keep watch on VHF 16, VHF 70, and a slew of MF/HF channels, but not on 121.5 MHz. Beside, since civillian vessels don't carry DF gears anymore, it'd be pretty pointless to receive an homing signal... Better to get a call from the RCC with the position data :-D

The only mention I've ever seen of a 243 EPIRB listed it as millitary only, but it's an old source, so that might have changed.

And with the COSPAS/SARSAT system, it's very common for a station not directly in the emergency zone to be the first warned. The satellites only work in line-of-sight area, so if a satellites picks up a signal (406 only), it'll keep it in memory until it links up with a LUT again, then downlink it. That's why planes crashing in the Canadian north are detected first by the Russians, since that's where the satellite goes next (Or it's the other way around).

Where's that RAF station, anyway?

[Rotary Crewman]

I was made to believe that all were on the guard frequency on VHF incase of ejection etc!

Which RAF station? The ARCC? Kinloss

[Etienne]

Yeah, where's Kinloss?

The nautical guard frequency, on VHF, is channel 16... 156,08 MHz, if I'm not mistaken, for R/T, and channel 70 (No clue of the frequency, but it's higher than 156,08) for VHF-DSC.

You can't actually call an aircraft's standard radio from a ship's GMDSS station. One of them needs special equipment (Usually, it's the aircraft :-D)

[Godalmighty83]

raf kinloss is in scotland about what 6000miles from egypt?

[Kapitan]

Yes but RAF kilnos moniters all satalites in orbit distress signals get sent to satalites.

on one trip from dartford to zeebrugge i done we had 7 distress calls 4 were in the pacific 1 in the irish sea 2 in the atlantic

[Rotary Crewman]

http://www.doddy.co.uk/kinlossabbey/visitors/images/map.gif

Miles away from the motherland *shudder* :-?

[Etienne]

Yes but RAF kilnos moniters all satalites in orbit distress signals get sent to satalites.

on one trip from dartford to zeebrugge i done we had 7 distress calls 4 were in the pacific 1 in the irish sea 2 in the atlantic

Those calls were probably MF/HF DSC.... They skip all over the place.

EPIRBs have to be relayed by a coast station, as you obviously can't detect them from the surface.

And if the satellite was on the northbound part of its orbit (COSPASS SARSAT operates on a low altitude polar orbit), it's prettty understandable that Kinloss would be the first or second station in its path.