Collided Norgas Cathinka Freed from Indonesia
The collided gas tanker Norgas Cathinka, its crew members and cargo arrived safely at the entrance of the port of Singapore. They have been released from its over 6-month detention in Indonesia. All the crew members, save for 2, are also freed or have been allowed to leave the country. There are 2 seamen remaining in custody in Indonesia awaiting completion of a trial re their role in the events leading to the accident and the loss of lives. The Norgas Cathinka vessel was on departure escorted to an agreed point by police launch to assure she was safe for a simultaneous release of an “out of court settlement” payment, which insurance providers have made to the owners of the ferry ship Bahuga Jaya.
This situation came from an unfortunate incident in the waters of Sunda Strait in Indonesian on 26th of September, 2012 involving Norgas Cathinka gas tanker ship in a collision.
The accident leading to the tragic loss of life for 8 people (1 crew member and 7 passengers), on the Indonesian-flagged ferry vessel called Bahuga Jaya, which lost its stability due to the impact.
The stability of the ferry was probably lost due to the shifting of the cargo (trucks) on the board. The Bahuga Jaya ferry ship was 40-year-old and evidently not maintained for its trade.
It was probably unseaworthy and did most probably sink for reasons of fatigue and/or construction modification leading to its failure.
The vessel sinking caused in company’s views the loss of 8 lives and not the accident itself. The loss of human lives was also caused by the lack of proper procedures on the ferry ship to evacuate people onboard in an emergency and with inadequate lifesaving procedures and equipment. The available data from the VDR data (Black Box) on I.M. Skaugen vessel makes it possible to reconstruct the events leading to the accident. From this it is evident that its ship isn’t the vessel that caused the accident.
This collision was the worst accident, involving loss of lives, for our Company since a tragic sinking by a vessel and by enemy torpedoes during World War II and thus a low in our history – and we all need to make sure it is never going to happen again. We do sincerely regret the loss of lives and we do consider it an avoidable collision that must not have happened and we do much regret the part we played in it.
Source: http://www.vesselfinder.com/
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