AUGUST 1, 2015
A
car ferry with 71 passengers and 23 crew members aboard caught fire off
Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido on Friday, leaving one
crew member missing while everyone else evacuated in lifeboats, the
Japan Coast Guard said.
The 11,401-ton Sunflower Daisetsu caught fire in the Pacific Ocean about 55km off Tomakomai port in southern Hokkaido at around 5.15pm, coast guard officials said.
Kunihiko Orita, a 44-year-old junior officer, was unaccounted for as he lost contact with other crew members after rushing to extinguish the fire. He was tasked with taking charge of on-site fire fighting operations in the event of a fire aboard, according to MOL Ferry.
Captain Mikiro Sakaue, 58, had remained on the ferry to communicate with rescue vessels but later agreed to evacuate, according to the officials. Three commercial ships and two patrol boats came to rescue the evacuating passengers and crew and took them to Tomakomai port.
At a press conference at its Tokyo head office, MOL Ferry apologised for the accident. A company official said the safety of the 93 passengers and crew members had been confirmed.
The fire broke out in a truck being transported by the ferry, which left Ooarai port in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, at 1.45am, and was to arrive at Tomakomai at 7.45pm, according to the coast guard and MOL Ferry.
“I wasn’t afraid until I boarded a life raft, but just as I was getting on, the outer walls of the ferry tumbled down,” said Takuya Ozawa, 24, a passenger from Hokkaido’s capital city of Sapporo.
As sprinklers failed to put out the fire, a coast guard fireboat sprayed water on the ferry to bring it under control. A coast guard helicopter flew over the ferry around 7.20pm and confirmed smoke coming from the starboard, but no flames were seen, according to the coast guard.
The seven-deck ferry was built in 2001 and is authorized to carry up to 154 people, 62 cars and 150 large trucks.
It was carrying 68 vehicles and 100 cargo units for trailer trucks.
The accident prompted the transport ministry to initiate an extraordinary audit of MOL Ferry’s offices. The Transport Safety Board decided to send five accident investigators on Saturday.
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The 11,401-ton Sunflower Daisetsu caught fire in the Pacific Ocean about 55km off Tomakomai port in southern Hokkaido at around 5.15pm, coast guard officials said.
Kunihiko Orita, a 44-year-old junior officer, was unaccounted for as he lost contact with other crew members after rushing to extinguish the fire. He was tasked with taking charge of on-site fire fighting operations in the event of a fire aboard, according to MOL Ferry.
Captain Mikiro Sakaue, 58, had remained on the ferry to communicate with rescue vessels but later agreed to evacuate, according to the officials. Three commercial ships and two patrol boats came to rescue the evacuating passengers and crew and took them to Tomakomai port.
At a press conference at its Tokyo head office, MOL Ferry apologised for the accident. A company official said the safety of the 93 passengers and crew members had been confirmed.
The fire broke out in a truck being transported by the ferry, which left Ooarai port in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, at 1.45am, and was to arrive at Tomakomai at 7.45pm, according to the coast guard and MOL Ferry.
“I wasn’t afraid until I boarded a life raft, but just as I was getting on, the outer walls of the ferry tumbled down,” said Takuya Ozawa, 24, a passenger from Hokkaido’s capital city of Sapporo.
As sprinklers failed to put out the fire, a coast guard fireboat sprayed water on the ferry to bring it under control. A coast guard helicopter flew over the ferry around 7.20pm and confirmed smoke coming from the starboard, but no flames were seen, according to the coast guard.
The seven-deck ferry was built in 2001 and is authorized to carry up to 154 people, 62 cars and 150 large trucks.
It was carrying 68 vehicles and 100 cargo units for trailer trucks.
The accident prompted the transport ministry to initiate an extraordinary audit of MOL Ferry’s offices. The Transport Safety Board decided to send five accident investigators on Saturday.
///--------------///
Written by Shubhajyoti
The "Sun Flower Daisetsu" issued a distress signal on July 31, 2015, at 5.32 p.m. off the coast of Honshu, reporting a fire on board.
The fire started on a cargo deck in one of the trucks and got out of control off the coast of the northernmost island Hokkaido.
The ferry with 71 passengers and 23 crew on board was en route from Tokyo to Tomakomai port, Hokkaido.
She was about 30 miles off the eastern coast of Honshu. 15 patrol boats and 5 aircraft were sent to the Ferry. The passengers, all wearing lifejackets, were gathered on the deck, awaiting the arrival of rescue Teams.
All passengers and crew were safely evacuated, no injures reported. One crew member went missing.
There were about 160 vehicles on board, mostly trucks.
Reports with photos: www.rt.com/news/3...www.telegraph.co...