Durban - A 75-year-old grandmother who fractured her shoulder on a recent MSC Opera cruise has demanded answers on passenger safety during ship-to-shore ferries to Portuguese Island, Mozambique.
The incident follows an accident that resulted in Durban shoreman Mark Raubenheimer, 60, almost losing his leg when he was pulled under a Zodiac rubber dinghy during a ferry trip in January.
Monica Daviessaid she had embarked on the trip with her daughter, Chiara Carter, and her family, to celebrate her birthday in February. But the celebration was ruined after a “terrifying” ferry ride to the island.
Davies said the dinghy skipper had driven the Zodiac “like hell” through rough surf.
“It appeared that the Zodiac was manned by a local Mozambican who steered it with little regard for those on board. One person’s camera lens was broken, another had his iPad bent,” Davies said.
“Chiara said she was terrified and thought that at any moment her 12- and 14-year-old were going to go overboard into the sea.”
Davies added: “Two large, elderly ladies insisted on lying on the bottom of the boat as they could not swim. This initially caused the Zodiac to tilt to one side.”
She added that passengers were helped to shore by Mozambicans.
“I’ve been on a few cruises before and I’ve never experienced anything like this. I think MSC is an accident waiting to happen – and not just on the shore trips, which are unsafe. A small child nearly drowned in the pool on the ship – they need to have lifeguards,” Carter said.
Davies said she fractured her shoulder while re-boarding the ship.
“To re-board we were instructed to stand on the side of the Zodiac and extend our arms out to two crewmen on the Opera. As the crewmen took hold of my arms the Zodiac dinghy, which had not been secured to the ship, moved backwards, and one crewman lost his grip of my left arm.
“I fell to my knees, losing a shoe in the sea. The other crewman maintained his hold of my right arm and wrenched me upwards by my arm, fracturing my shoulder.”
Davies said the ship’s doctor treated and bandaged her knees and gave her a painkiller and an anti-inflammatory tablet.
Davies said apart from severe bruising to her arms and legs X-rays revealed that she had fractured her right shoulder. Her doctor’s bills had mounted to R10 530.
Davies wrote to MSC Opera chief executive, Daphne Obsorne, last week complaining about the ferry and requesting that the company foot the bill for her medical expenses and compensate her for her pain and suffering.
A Durban skipper, Deon Boucher, who MSC had approached on several occasions to operate the ferry, said he was concerned about whether some of the skippers used for ferries were qualified with a ferryman’s ticket to carry paying passengers.
“I know lots of people who have gone who don’t have tickets but they are producing their private licence… I can see more accidents happening. I am surprised no one has been killed,” Boucher said.
However, Osborne said the allegations of inexperienced and unqualified skippers and shoremen, and the shipping line not adhering to regulations, were “nonsense” and “completely inaccurate”.
“They all have South African and Mozambique skipper’s licences accredited by all the safety associations. We have landed over a million people over the past years using Zodiacs onto the beaches. These people are Mozambique locals, however certainly not inexperienced,” she said.
Osborne said the company advised passengers that the trip “might not appeal to everyone” and they were asked to sign a waiver.
She said new Zodiacs were being designed to make the crossing more comfortable. The first would be ready in October “and four new crafts will be available next year as we have more passengers to transfer with the larger vessel”. Osborne added that two lifeguards were employed at the island.
The SA Maritime Safety Authority’s (Samsa) chief executive, Commander Tsietsi Mokhele, said they had acted immediately upon receiving Davies’s complaint, although the incident did not meet the definition of a “serious casualty” in terms of the International Maritime Organisation’s Casualty Investigation Code.
“As the vessel is registered in Panama (flag state) and in Mozambique waters (coastal state) Samsa did not have jurisdiction. The incident was brought to the attention of both parties with a request for a copy of the Casualty Investigation Report. Despite repeated requests no response has been received,” Mokhele said
Daily News