hi guys, its a miracle that i am writing this post. yesterday we went out to fish during the night i was on a 27ft boat with another 3 persons. at about 2 a.m the engine that was running stopped and when we started the other engine the alarm for batteries and oil presure began to beep. when one of us went in the cabin it was with water and when we opened the floor the engines were flooded. we only had time to call valletta radio to tell them that we were sinking and gave then our exact position on gps. in a few seconds the boat went down i and another person got trapped inder the tent but managed to escape the others managed to get out before. we only had a 4ft dingy that was tied to the boat but somehow we had a knife to cut. we went in the dingy how we could imagine 4 person on a 4ft dingy at 2a.m about 17 miles out and a NW swell. we were in the west side to we paddled how we could to the land so that the current doesnt take us past malta. we saw a big light and began to paddle to try to reach it but it seemed to stay the same distance. after about an hour a boat came to search for us. they went in our initial position search a bit and drifted with the current they even put a floodlight in our direction but they did nt see us. they did this 2 times and left. they only search for us for about 15 min. we than tought that when the sun rises they will come again to search for us maybe with a plane or a boat. no one came and we kept paddeling for that light. when it was they we saw that that light was a trawler with a tuna cage. we paddled for it and at 8 a.m we were about 200 mtrs from the cage and they came to rescue us with a dingy from the trawler. we spend 6hrs on a 4ft dingy with no water or food. they radioed valletta port and arescue boat came for us. i am very angry with the personell of that boat that came to search for us at night. they searched for only about 15 f***ing mins and they didnt send a plane to search for us when it was day. they spend more time than that searching for a dead body of an illegal immigrant. they should be ashamed of themselves they left us there stranded at sea when they could have saved us. its not stoping here i am going to speak with someone about this. maybe next time they search better and can save someone. make sure that everyone has lifejackets and everything for safety at hand not in cupboard or under the seat. to day i have learned that a sinking boat is not going to give you time to act.
wow Mark....Thank God u are ok. What a bad experience I can just about imagine the tension u had when the search party took off without a proper search...
wow ahh, my uncle experienced something similar once (around 15 years ago) when 3 were lost while trolling for lampuki... they were mentioned on t.v and found themselves at sicily
funny but true, they care more for a dead body rather than save a human life.. how did the boat sink???? you must have hit it with something i think
Wow Mark, I guess you have just gone through all of our worst nightmares!
It's really shocking that the search and resue team gave up so easily! It will certainly make me think twice about going out again for night-time fishing and will be a reminder to all of us to always keep the boat fully stocked with life saving equipment. Thank God there were other ships in the area and the sea was calm.
Wow mark! thank god you guys are ok! No thanks to the "search and rescue" what's the point of going 17nm out to perform a search for 15mins? ::) They spent more time travelling to get on site than actually searching??!!
Hi Mark, reading this sent shivers down my spine as I can just picture the boat going down in a flash and everyone struggling to get out of it, what a nightmare, and thank god you guys made it. I can't believe that you radio'd in your exact position and basically nothing much was sent in terms of SAR efforts. It's lucky that you had a dingy that you could get into at least to get you all out of the water.
Are you sure that the boat that came to look for you was an AFM/Police vessel or do you think it could have been a boat in the area that heard the radio call and came to see if they could provide assistance? I'm surprised and if it's the case disgusted that an AFM patrol boat would only spend a few minutes looking and definately keep us posted on what the authorities have to say about this incident. Don't let them sweep it under the carpet.
When they radioed Valletta Port and a boat came for you , did you ask them why the f**k was no one looking for us last night etc?
And yes we all learn from past experience, having a ditch bag handy is essential when going out, especially at night, but how many of us stow everything away not realising that will be a matter of seconds if a boat goes down due to a hole.
I reckon for night fishing all lifejackets should have personal strobes on them and try and keep that handheld VHF in a water proof sleeve and handy so that if you abandon ship at least you have your life jacket, strobe and VHF.
I believe there are some special bags that float where you can put all sorts of equipment in but haven't really seen them locally. Main thing is that no thanks to the SAR resources (or lack of!) you eventually made it back to safety
OHHHH
That's an aweful experiance mate. Wow, but what was the issue of the tent. Do you cover the boat at night??
As skip said, be sure of what actually had happened, but if you are definitely sure, don't be afraid to bring facts to the people responsible of that 'rescue'
These guys should put themselves in the same situation.....
As I always say, safety comes first. In my practice, I always preach about this, but not all care, until some bad experince like this happens. Here the story had a good ending, but others could not be as lucky to be rescued, like you.
Mark, I still cant believe what happened to u at sea. I keep thinking about it and i shudder all the time.
This can happen to anyone of us as I know that Busumark is a very meticulous kind of person and pays great attention to details. There is a lot to learn from this bad experience and I am sure that once Mark has calmed down and put it behind him, he will be able share more details from which we all can learn a lot.
WOW.............what a nightmare you have just been through, you should thank your gods!!
Its a shame and disgrace for the SAR acting that way, if in actual fact they were!! It would even be more disgraceful if they didn't go out to search for you!
Have you considered publishing you story in a local newspaper, like for example Maltatoday? if you contact them I am sure that they will follow it up.I should imagine that doing so will hit home.
Skip, would it be appropriate for MFF to write an official letter to the SAR and request an inquiry into the matter?
hi guys i am better today. yesterday i was very angry for the AFM personell but to day i was very more angry with them after reading the report on the front page of the sunday times. they told the gurnalist that at 01.30 a distress call was received from the hanina and a recsue boat was sent immediatly and they didnt find any vessel in the area. i couldnt beleive my eyes i had to read again. they said they didnt find a vessel in the area. the boat sank how the f**k could they find a vessel in the area. it in the bottom the boat in 900mtrs. i told valletta port we have alot of water we are sinking. i phoned the gurnalist and told him aboat the afm how they left us there. i told ok maybe at night they didnt see us. but if they sent a rescue plane at dawn in about 5 min they would have spotted us. i told a lot of other things that they could have them that i even know. they should know better than me what to do. he told he will contact the afm for their version and tomorrow he will wright another report in the times. i think the water came in from a bellow or the exaust we dont know. it came in quickly. everything was knew it was the second time that he used it this season. i learned that you have to keep all the safety equipment near you in a floating case. we had everything but we didnt have time to get them. the mobile and hand held radio in a floating pocket and the most thing i am sure is the most important is a distress beacon. when you switch it on all the boats and ships with radar will know that it is a distress call and will come to save(hopefully). i told the story a million times today at work all wanted to know what happened. everyone me you werent afraid of big fish. i told them no there are no big fish in the sea. dont worry after that experience i will continue to go fishing. tomorrow for alungi (if the gaffer left something) and than deep-sea finshing.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the update, I was shocked too by the article as usual badly written and lacking the true facts. I was thinking that it had to be a thru-hull fitting to take you down so quickly, something was installed correctly.
The distress beacon or EPIRB are extremely expensive pieces of equipment, though there is a slightly cheaper version for coastal waters, like a personal EPIRB, I forget what they are called but also expensive. For use at night a very cost effective device is a flashing strobe beacon which is used to attract attention.
Completely pathetic that they said they went to the area but found nothing, shows a lack of professionalism to me and I wonder whether they thought it was a 'hoax' call or something similar and were told to go have a quick look which it seems is all they did.
Keep us posted.
Skip
Hello Mark,
I just read the news and I'm really shocked cause I was fishing all the weekend and didn't even tried to go back home.
Thank god all of you came out of it without injuries and alive. Unfortunately Yes, the authorities in Malta lack of experience. These days the tuna fishfarms and the their trawlers are saving more lives than our patrol boats which they spend more time going round Filfla or to inspect your boat.
Speak again to the authorities cause this is a real shocking issue and they could have sent the helicopter by night as they do when there are illegal imigrants reported.
F***en B**tards
Hi Mark.
Thank God you're ok after that nightmare. I just cannot believe how you were left stranded when you actually gave your position and informed that you were taking in water! Unbelievable & disgraceful if the boat out there was actually a patrol boat - but then again, if it wasn't where were they?....
I just hope someone high up with a concience is reading this thread in the forum.
I was just reading the online replies to today's article on timesofmalta.com and frankly I find it quite disturbing when you read how some people think! All I can say is I'm willing to bet good money that if they had been in the same situation, they would be reacting in the same way in terms of anger that busu's is going through. Yet they happily praise the AFM and state from the comfort of their chair how you should have done this, and had that etc! In an emergency with only seconds at hand, you hardly tend to have a clear mind.
I encourage you all to post your own comments on the times of malta site http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080623/local/sunken-boat-survivor-complains-of-botched-rescue-operation
Click on the button at the bottom of the article on the right hand side. You need to put in all the information which somebody checks, but only your name is displayed when the comment is posted.
First of all thank god you're all alive.
secondaly reading the messages dropt on the times left me in shocked ,i should say shame to those whom instead of comfort our friend they just issue statements pointing out possibilities and probabilities .i just ask ,could the afm operation took much longer searching and on a larger scale (radius cos of the NW drift ) as the do with immigrants?, who knows!!!!! .
let us be practical can any one tell me who uses a boat and whilst driving ,wearing a life jacket and holding a flare !!!!!!!! (reffering to the messages on the times)
hhehe thats driving sirena imagine while working and laying a long line with the weight and hooks about hehehhe some ppl just try to be funny. I am not saying that if busu has to be on a boat working again he wouldnt take more precautions but that does not mean that he can come out in a different situation. All accidents are in different circumstances and with different effects.
hey nick i did post on the times does it take a long time to be placed there.
Yes for some reason it sometimes never comes up! ,can take 30 minutes or more or has a mind of its own. I think however that a junior editor checks them for approval before allowing them to go up.
i think they stopped the comments i added an other comment but nothing
Hi Mark
I didn't post on the times because i don't care what that kind of people have to say and i will not give them the opportunity to talk form there behind.I noticed that you did things that not a lot of people do in a case like this ,you tried to save the boat by empting the water. That's what a real sea men will do.The sea men wanna be sitting on a boat wearing a life jaket flares in one hand and on the other hand some flash light. The only thing you have to say is you are a tax payer and you weren't treated like one. Any way F them the most impotant thing is that it didn't effect you in any way and went fishing again. HAPPY FISHING.
to-morrow there is supposed to be an article in The Times with the armies comments and my reaction to there comments. and a high ranking official from the army is supposed to make contact with to see what could have been done better.
Mark why dont u and the other three make a press conference regarding the way things went. Only do it if u think it will help otherwise dont bother.
i dont think there is the need for a press conference. we have a friend who is an official on the patrol boat. he phone my friend(the owner of the boat) and he excused himself in the name of the army and said that somewhere there was a mistake. i wait for the top ranking official to call me and then see from there
Well if they did that then there is no need to push it furthur i suppose. Everyone makes mistakes, we are only human. Its true the consequences could have been disatrious but thank God it ended well.
i wouldn't hold it exactly busu..... i would let an article pending if something in the future happens.... there is no excuse for their behavior....
if they are unable to save people, just tell us and we pay no licenses....., for a bunch of illegal immigrants, for the sake of othe church, europe ect.. they would go with all resources....
for a fellow maltese vessel in distress they think it is a joke.......... they should be asamhed of it. they don't want it to go a lot in public because their positions are at stake
Looks like the article didn't come out in todays paper, maybe tomorrow
phoned the journalist and told me it is supposed to be publish to-morrow, he even told me that the most top officail of the army is supposed to contact me. he told me to give him some time and if he doeasnt make contact with me i tell him again.
A distress signal goes out with the exact position, an SAR team are dispatched, and they return with nothing!!!!. Someone should be help responsible. Demand to see the boat's logbook, and enquire whether an investigation has been launched to determine why the SAR team returned empty handed. This is absolute BS. There is no compromise with human life. Its not rocket science to determine direction of drift from when a distress call is received until the SAR party arrive on site. They sould have gone through the area with a fine toothcomb, and not just shone a light in the general direction, peered out, and left!!!!I cannot accept this attitude.
well said Gaffer,
we need more respect on the sea cause out there although we have all the equipment you might not have the chance to get out of the boat with all of it time. After all that's why we're paying heavy taxes, registrations blah blah blah.
Mark
keep us informed
Todays's Headline: 'Two Helicopters Deployed to Rescue Migrants'
Should read: 'Two Helicopters Deployed to Rescue Migrants - None Deployed for Maltese'
about a month ago kenneth was diving with the dentist on sicca il bajda and wondered off. the dentist paniced as he could not see him or his bouy. He saw another diver with a dinghy and flagged him down. they both started searching for about an hour with no avail. they contacted the afm which sent out a helicopter to search for him within 5 mins the helicopter located kenneth towards comino advised the dinghy of the position and they went to collect him.
so if they think it is not a joke they do go out....... where do you draw a line......... are they trying to save on fuel.......personally i would not joke with a distress call.
no article again today and no one contacted me from AFM. i think that they are letting time pass so that everyone forgets as if like nothing ever happens. welcome to malta. maybe i have to speak with someone else
I think you will find busu that the article is/needs to be reviewed by the 'powers that be' to avoid the Army putting themselves in bad light or something similar. As The Gaffer pointed out, you have every right to see the logbook, but I also think that whichever ministry looks after the AFM should launch an official investigation into the matter. If nothing else to use it as a learning experience, rather than only doing such a thing if God forbid someone had lost their life.
This is what I posted on the article comment as not sure if it will come up:
Still no report from the AFM / authorities, not even a small press release from their side. I sincerely hope that the AFM use this as a learning experience and review their procedures to prevent this from occuring again in the future.
I do sympathise with the crews who have to operate these boats in arduous conditions, ultimately they follow the orders given to them by their command center and respond accordingly. What occured that morning it terms of their response had all the symptoms of a suspected hoax call checking out the location quickly and moving on.
I'm sure the survivors don't hold the patrol boat crew responsible for leaving the area, but clearly a very bad decision was made either by Valletta Port Control or the AFM command center in determining that this call was not genuine.
What I find the most surprising is how relaxed the authorities have been about it all, with no comment whatsoever! If you get into trouble be prepared to rescue yourself, as our SAR resources are being held up dealing with immigrants.
I feel if 4 boats are available, at least 2 should be 'reserved' for local duties if that doesn't happen already
To those following this thread, a positive report in todays's time as the AFM are looking into the matter in more detail and should be discussing it with busumark.
Mark please keep us informed as best you can on the developments with the AFM.
i am waiting for the call from the brigadier. when he calls i will post
the brigadier of afm made contact with my friend the owner of the boat. altought he said that he would have made also contact with me he never phone me. i phoned again the journalist and he is supposed to phone the brigadier and tell him that i have some questions for him. my friend spent about 2 hours speaking with him but nothing came out they told him that they tought that it was a joke. he heard the recording of my distress call and the last part when i told them the name of the boat is not there. but i am sure that i told them the name of the boat on the vhf. if the brigadier makes contact with me i post again
Busu thanks for the update. Have to say that with seconds or a couple of minutes in such situation I really think that a DSC VHF programmed with an MMSI number and linked in to a working GPS is a must. Then all you have to do is flip the toggle switch, hold down for a few seconds and it will transmit the distress message for you, with all the vessel details, it's current position etc.
Recordings are never great and it could be that at the end of your transmission someone keyed their mike which cut you out :(
I second your opinion skip, a DSC VHF linked to a GPS is a MUST nowadays, the prices of all the marine electronic equipment have dropped so low, that it beggars belief that people go out without them? Combine those, with a good quality lifejacket for each passenger, & you have a very good chance of surviving a catastrophe at sea for under 500 euro! What value do you put on your own, & your mate's lives? :o
The other day I had launched & started the engine, & pulled away from the slipway when I noticed that my VHF/GPS were not working, so I dropped anchor inside the moorings where it was flat calm, & checked the wiring, & found that an in-line fuse holder was loose, I fixed it & everything was fine. However if I hadn't found & fixed the problem, I would have recovered onto the trailer, before the tide dropped, & fixed the problem at home, nowadays I wouldn't dream about going out without DSC VHF linked to a GPS! :o
you are right skip everyone should have one. and those who have one and is not connected with the authorities should do it immediately. it may save their lives. an epurb(466hz) is the best option but i dont know how much it costs
It is true that the EPIRB is the best sollution but in the case of the SIMSHAR it did not work :s
i dont know if they had one. it is supposed to work when it touches the water and it continues to send signals even it is underwater till a certain depht. i dont know how much. what they had for sure was a vms and that douesnt send distress signals. altought they said that it was on the radar and then it disapeared. they should have checked with the vessel if everything was ok when the radar personell didnt see the signal again
The EPIRB is another great piece of kit to have, & if you are in the water they certainly bring the emergency services right to you, but at the moment they are very expensive, (no doubt they will drop in price like everything else) but at the moment too expensive for my pocket! :-[
What I have got as my alternative, is a clip-on strobe light which is attached to my lifejacket, & a pack of mini-flares attached to the other side. I reckon that after hitting the DSC button giving my exact position, when a boat or helicopter comes looking, they will see either my strobe light (visible for 6 miles), or my flares, until Father Xmas brings me an EPIRB! ;D
Have a look at the strobe lights, they are cheap as chips, & can be seen for miles, day & night ;)
blueskip
Strobes are definately a great option, and wasn't aware of mini flares so they are good as well, thanks for the update.
EPIRBs are out of most people's reach, but PLBs which are now on the same frequency 406MHz can be picked up for ?239 incl VAT. They require manual activiation and that model doesn't have a GPS transmitter but for coastal operations around 60nm should be fine without GPS positioning.
As I mentioned in another post, why the EU doesn't remove VAT on life saving equipment etc I will never understand.
Well if it was onshore they would remove it, but because we are all "rich enough" to own a boat, we get no concessions >:(
The mini flares are brilliant, they come in a plastic sleeve of about 8, & there is a small metal barrel in the sleeve, you screw a flare into the top of the barrel, pull back the spring loaded trigger, & release it, & up she goes, the whole pack weighs no more than 0.5kg. I suppose you would have to be careful screwing the flare into the barrel, in case you dropped it :o
I have fitted a lanyard to my firing mechanism so I cant lose it, the mini flares themselves float. They should be available via e-bay or from any chandlers. I got mine from my son, who works in outdoor pursuits, mountain climbing, caving, canoeing etc, so they will be available via those outlets too, try a quick Google.
blueskip
What you guys think about the spot satellite messenger.
The principle is good but the subscription is what kills you, low initial cost but then annual recurring charges for the service! ?99/year and an extra ?11 per year if you want additional SAR benefit.
Overall the concept is excellent, primarily because of the help and check in function which allows you to keep in touch with your friends and family or nominated SPOTeam so they know you're okay and your current location. It has an in built GPS receiver so that makes it functionally similar to the better PLBs. It also has a very good battery life, and I found this about the frequency it uses:
SPOT Service uses coordinates from the U.S. Government?s GPS Satellite Constellation and its onboard GPS chip to determine your position, the L-band uplink (1610-1621.35 MHz) of the Globalstar? Low-Earth Orbit Mobile Satellite System, which is owned and operated by Globalstar, Inc. ("Globalstar") and the SPOT enterprise systems, to transmit your messages (together, the "Satellite Systems").
Spot sells in Europe for a recommended price ?199, yet only $149 in the USA which I think is very unfair, that's around ?95 yet we are being asked to pay over double that. I'm not sure if you can buy the Spot in the USA and then activate it for use in Europe, one would have to try. Though I did find these guys http://www.prscomms.co.uk/easysubpage0013.html selling it for nearly the same price as the USA.
Even the service if bought in the USA is $99 yet it's ?99 over here!
like always in malta someone have to die so that maybe something is done. goog discusion yesterday on bondiplus. went this morning to speak with raymond bugeja (president of koperativa) to tell him about our story. the negligence of the afm is more clear in our case and nothing was done. till this day nobody from afm told me why at dawn they didnt make a search. but unoficially we were told that they tought that it was a joke. even when the brigadier spoke with the owner of the boat he told him that the staff tought that it was a joke. while i was there a journalist from malta today was coming to interview raymond and told him my experience and he is going to investigate. i phone were's everybody to speak with lou bondi but the girl who answered the phone told me that yesterday was the last program but left my number and he is suposed to phone me. if i was in the program yesterday i only had one question for the brigadier. WHY AT DAWN YOU DIDNT MAKE A SEARCH? i would loved to hear him say in front of all malta WE THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE. after that answer he sould take off his uniform like that man said to him
Still can't understand why search from AFM started on Sunday after 1.00pm.and why they stop searching by night when they didn't knew if they where swimming or on the life raft?
they should keep searching even by night cause that's why we have 2 parachute flairs and 2 hand held flairs visible mostly by night only, so that when helicopter or ship lights are visible from far distance we can signal them our position. they knew that the victims where not on the liferaft only when Koperativa tas-sajd started recovering corps on thursday.
This issue must be urgently handled by the PM and Brigadier must give real answers not like he replied yesterday that he was not in the meetings etc etc. He is Fully responsible for what ever his Surgents etc acts cause that's his duty to answer for all AFM actions.
lou bondi phoned me and i told him the story. he said if they make a follow up program he will tell me.
Please read this article from DI-VE malta
PM has full confidence in AFM work
by Paul Cachia - pcachia@di-ve.com
Local News -- 22 July 2008 -- 16:45CEST
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi affirmed his full confidence in the work done by the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) in its efforts to search for five fishermen. The Simshar's crew had set out on a fishing trip on July 7 and were due back by July 11. But when they failed to show up, the relatives raised the alarm on the evening of July 12.
Intensive searches led by the Armed Forces of Malta were launched as soon as a report was filed at the AFM headquarters.
As the story unfolded, the AFM was criticised for not having found the Simshar's crew sooner.
The Fisheries Cooperative is saying that the Simshar's VMS (vessel monitoring system) and satellite phone connection signals were terminated abruptly on Thursday but this had not been picked up the AFM.
They added that the AFM are ill-equipped for the search-and-rescue missions with damaged systems onboard the search-and-rescue helicopters.
However, the official spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister confirmed that Dr Gonzi would not order an internal inquiry to look into the search and rescue mission of the AFM, which now falls within his
remit.
Dr Gonzi was fully confident in the magisterial inquiry which would ascertain the facts in this case, he added.
The recovery of lifeless body from the sea is always subject to a magisterial inquiry. Magistrate Joe Apap Bologna has appointed various experts to help him in the inquiry that will look into the Simshar
tragedy which resulted in the death of three men; Noel Carabott, 33, Carmelo Bugeja 61, and Somali man Abdalla Gedi 21.
The search is still ongoing for 11-year-old Theo Bugeja.
This is what Times of Malta reported today and by the way according to these funny people who really doesn't have a clue af what we 're equiped on our boats found a new method how we can catch fish.
this is with fire works ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Simshar caught fire, rescuers report
Full-time fishermen, part-time rescuers
Matthew Xuereb
Mark Bugeja, captain of the Grecale, who gave details of the rescue mission to reporters at Marsaxlokk yesterday, indicates the floats the crew tried to survive on. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier.
Having seen his fishing boat engulfed in flames and holding on to dear life on a small makeshift raft for days, the first thing Simon Bugeja, the sole survivor of the Simshar tragedy, told his rescuers was that everyone on board had died, including his father and his son.
Mark Bugeja, 28, the master of the 20-metre long fishing boat Grecale, which rescued Simon and participated in the search for the other four people, was speaking to reporters when he arrived in Marsaxlokk at 7 a.m. yesterday.
The Simshar tragedy stole the lives of Simon Bugeja's father Karmenu, 61, Noel Carabott, 33, and Somali Abdulrahman Abdala Gedi, 21.
Simon Bugeja's 11-year-old son Teo is still missing although his father told his rescuers he had died.
Despite earlier reports that the fishing vessel was destroyed by an explosion, his rescuers yesterday recounted how Simon told them that a fire in the engine room had destroyed the boat.
Mr Bugeja explained the heart-breaking rescue mission which started last Monday when he left his expectant wife at home and joined fellow fisherman Malcolm Degabriele, 30, in a bid to find the missing vessel and the five people on board. Simon's uncle, Joe (Karmenu's brother), and his son Joseph joined them.
Pointing at the raft which Simon put together hastily, Mr Bugeja said he felt "uncontainable happiness" when he saw Simon waving as they were approaching him, having been spotted by Mr Degabriele.
He said Simon built the raft, made out of four blocks of polystyrene fishermen used to keep long lines afloat, and a net full of empty plastic bottles of water and empty detergent containers. He also held up the grey and green T-shirt Simon was wearing when they rescued him.
"Simon's first words were: 'The others are all dead'. He was frail and had barely enough energy to speak.
"We gave him some water and soon after he started relating what had happened. The patrol boat and the helicopter came to collect him in no time and rushed him to hospital," Mr Bugeja, who also looked extremely tired after a week out at sea, said. He recalled drinking coffee continuously in order to keep awake so the search could continue at night.
He said Simon related how in the afternoon of July 10, when they were just five hours away from Malta, Simon smelt something burning. He went to the engine room and found one of the engines on fire. He did not have time to get hold of the CO2 fire extinguisher and went back up and tried to open the life raft but this did not work. Simon told his rescuers the satellite phone did not work either and that the vessel started taking in water. His son, Mr Carabott and Mr Abdala Gedi were asleep at the time.
Simon got the floats and threw them overboard. All five of them then abandoned the vessel and for more than six hours watched the fibreglass Simshar sink slowly, engulfed in flames.
Mr Bugeja said Simon tied with rope the floats together and took it in turns to rest on the raft. Simon said he told the others not to drink seawater but they were dehydrated and drank it anyway.
Mr Bugeja said the vessel sank in the early hours the following day.
Mr Abdala Gedi died on Saturday. Last night the police said that an autopsy on the corpse recovered from the sea and identified as that of Mr Abdala Gedi, showed that he had died of asphyxia due to drowning and burns.
Simon related to his rescuers how Mr Carabott removed his clothes to cover little Teo who was freezing in the water. Mr Carabott succumbed on Sunday.
Karmenu was the next one to die, leaving father and son alone holding on to dear life.
Last Thursday, a day before he was rescued, Simon said his son started to get weaker and died before sunset that day. The father held on to his son all through the night but Teo started to slip off the raft until, at one point, Simon was holding on to him with one hand. Eventually, Teo slipped from his tired hand on Friday morning, a few hours before the rescue.
The search for Teo continues. Mr Bugeja said that during the rescue operation they were stopping every vessel they saw, informing them about the search so that they would keep a lookout for the vessel.
At the time they did not know that the Simshar had caught fire and sank. He said an Italian patrol boat they came across close to Lampedusa told them they had not received any calls for assistance to join the search.
Mr Bugeja said they too had their fair share of problems. The day after they left, one engine failed and they had to continue the rescue operation on one engine. He estimated they used about 8,000 litres of fuel during the rescue operation.
He said he was extremely happy that it was them who rescued the only survivor of this tragedy.
Comments
dorianne bugeja (1 hour ago)
Let us all praise Mr Mark Bugeja the master of fishing boat Grecale who participated in the search of these unfortunate people who lost their life. His determination and kind heart led to at least one man to survive. He surely should be honoured by our President for his bravery
act.
well done Mark, May God be with you.
Christian Caruana (1 hour, 24 minutes ago)
@ Daphe Caruana Galizia
Daphne I am sorry but you must get your facts right.
Every vessel is equipped with a VHF (radio), from a long distance or in bad weather it does not make contact with the ones at home. In the past messages by VHF were conveyed by relay (vessels closer to base would relay the messages) but nowadays vesels are equipped with satellite phones and fishermen use them when no radio contact is possible. That is why Simon called on satellite phone. On another note it is impossible to have a private conversation via VHF...
As for life-vests they are also present on every vessel, however, since there was a fire they were certainly made unaccessible or even destroyed , otherwise they would have put them on for sure. The raft waqs cobbled at sea and not on the boat from what floating material they managed to recover.
As for the life-raft, they are serviced as required by law every year at Manoel Island so it is not the fishemen or the owner who are to blame if the raft did not open.
J Pace (1 hour, 55 minutes ago)
I seem to recall that it was reported by Mr Bugeja that an explosion had actually ripped the boat apart.... inconsistencies....?
john fenech (2 hours, 50 minutes ago)
May I offer my deepest sympathy to the relatives of the departed and a speedy recovery to Simon. Although most of these men know what is required but like most of us they think that sometimes short cuts are the better way!
Life jackets; life rafts; Emergency Radio beacons; Costal flare pack; Fog horns; plus first aid kits and fire fighting equipment are a must.
These might never be required but when your job is permanently at sea you cannot afford to make assumptions. Remember your relatives and the loved ones who are waiting your arrival.
Life jackets like all safety harness are a nuisance at times but a life saver at all times. Life jackets come equipped with lifejacket lights and emergency locating flares. EPIRBs must be of the recommended type and automatically deployed, that is will automatically activate once free from the external mounted bracket.
The basic purpose of distress radio beacons is to send information to save the life of those in distress: therefore it will be in vain if our SAR section doesn?t have the equipment or sufficient knowhow to act within the first 24hours following a traumatic event to bring in the survivors.
Joanne Micallef (3 hours, 47 minutes ago)
My heart aches for the Bugeja family, may the lord help them with their grief.
There are many questions that need to be answered, unfortunately like always with this country only after a tragedy do we address the related faults. I hope that there will be a serious enquiry in how the whole operation was handled in order to avoid anything similar ever happening in the future.
maria galea (4 hours, 43 minutes ago)
Can you please stop judging these people, no one has an idea what they have been trough, only God knows what have been going on in their heads, you have to be in the situation to understand. Everyone saying they must have done this and that, common please lets dont be foolish! I feel terribly sorry for all of them, and feel angry cause maybe if they found them a day before they could have found young Theo alive aswell. A whole week waiting to be rescued in those conditions is no joke. Hope they're at piece now, and may God support their families and friends.
George Borg (5 hours, 39 minutes ago)
contd..
Sailors usually have a grab bag (water proof plastic container) which includes a mobile phone, waterproof Hand Held VHF, flares, torch and a watertight strobe light and finally a knife.
When abandoning a craft, the "Grab Bag " should be ready to be taken with you in the sea/life raft.
George Borg (5 hours, 43 minutes ago)
I simply cannot understand why the EPIRB was not activated. An EPIRB is an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon and is registered to a specific boat. Once this is activated, the AFM automatically receive a distress signal from the boat with it's exact position. Every boat that goes offshore MUST carry one. These are becoming so important that there are now various companies that now produce "Personal EPIRBS" the size of a mobile.... I expect the MMA to take action and investigate the safety of these fishing boats.. Take the life raft as an example.. When a life raft is over a certain age, these have to be serviced every 2 years, provisions in the raft renewed, flares & water replaced and the gas cylinder recharged for auto inflation.
On another point, I find it very offensive that Mr Bugejja and Mr Piscopo blamed the AFM on various occasions during Bondi+ yesterday... I say hats off to the AFM for their SAR. Ludicrous to think that the AFM would spot people and NOT pick them up.!!
contd..
Daphne Caruana Galizia (6 hours ago)
If you had read the reportage carefully since day one, you would know all the answers to these questions. There was no radio on the boat, which is why Mr Bugeja called his wife on the satellite phone to ask her for the weather forecast. There were no life-vests - otherwise, as Mr Sammut Dacoutrous points out here, they would have put them on in the time it took to cobble a raft together. And the sole life-raft available didn't inflate, presumably because it hadn't been checked or serviced in a long time.
N Palmer (6 hours ago)
Recent events including this tragic incident have certainly placed the spotlight on safety at sea and raised awareness amongst boaters and non-boaters alike just how quickly things can go horribly wrong. As the Captain of the vessel Simon Bugeja was probably trying to do everything he could to save the lives of his crew and get them off the burning boat and to safety, with minimal help as the majority of his crew were asleep.
There are lessons to be learnt from this tragedy and the recent sinking a month ago for all boaters to take note of and place greater importance on having life saving equipment handy. I wonder how many vessels have a proper ditch bag handy on deck ready to be thrown overboard, as a fellow boater I know I don't and plan to address this asap.
Given the costs of SAR missions and limited resources available, why doesn't the government offer an incentive for boaters to invest in emergency life saving equipment like PLBs, EPIRBs, ditch bags and life rafts with 0% VAT, or offer one-off special prices.
Mark Bugeja and crew have my utmost respect and admiration; I will happily contribute to their fuel costs
Ivan Tabone (6 hours, 6 minutes ago)
Whilst praising all the efforts of the fishermen and other rescuers, and whilst sympathising with all those who suffered losses, I still think that there is more to the story. Yesterday's Bondiplus showed a few uneasy moments and it seems that there are people who know more but cannot tell all. I cannot figure out why the "explosion" occured. Diesel engines do not explode and I have never heard of a coolant gas creating such havoc. I think that the authorities have to delve more into what caused the fire/explosion and what exactly was being carried on the Simshar.
M. Schembri (6 hours, 6 minutes ago)
Under the circumstances a serious inquiry is the proper thing to do. As Mr Sammut dacoutros remarked there are quite a few nebulous areas in this whole unfortunate tragedy.
Therese Vella (6 hours, 13 minutes ago)
I'm afraid I have to retract my comment in yesterday's blog (Young widow speaks of husband's premonition) when i said that the funeral should be paid by AFM. After the interview on TVM with Stefania Carabott, Noel's widow, there emerged some insinuations that should not go without being investigated. One was - why did the brand-new boat explode, was it really because of the freezer? My question is :Is there any other way in which fishermen catch fish: do they use fireworks (which are illegal)? If this was a fireworks explosion, then it would be the second fireworks tragedy this year. It's hard to tell, because no remnants of the boat were found. I hope the truth comes out - a very high price has been paid to catch fish.
Ian Sammut Dacoutros (6 hours, 31 minutes ago)
While my heart aches at the thought of what these poor sould must have gone through I would like to ask a couple of questions. Last night I saw a television programme on TVM discussing this story, and accusations went flying round especially towards the AFM, I would like to ask where the life jackets on the boat were? Were there any? Where was the life raft? Was there one? If Mr. Bugeja had the minutes required to build the raft could he not have gotten the life raft / jackets? Or sent someone to get them while he was building the raft? As far as I know, at least these 2 basic survival tools are required to be on a boat, where were they? If there was time to build the raft couldn't a distress signal be sent? 112 with a mobile or Satphone (i am sure there is something), or radio?
Just curious.
I offer thoughts and prayers up to the Lord for the souls of the lost and pray that young Theo will soon be found too.
Ramon Casha (7 hours, 9 minutes ago)
Despite the sadness of this occasion, now is the time to start asking some questions like... why is it that this vessel's life-raft did not work and neither did their satellite phone? If it took almost 6 hours for the vessel to sink, why didn't they use the VHF? Just a few seconds to send a distress signal might have made all the difference yet the article doesn't even mention it. Did the vessel even have one?
And the million dollar question... What about all the other Maltese fishing vessels? Would their liferafts have worked? Would they have been able to send out a distress signal?
R.Gauchi (7 hours, 35 minutes ago)
Thank you Simon. I sincerely hope that you will be well rewarded(and recompensed),although your greatest reward will always be the knowledge that when you were needed you were not found wanting.
Yes its true that one has to take care of his things to be as safe as possible. And also that we might have electronic equipment that we buy and use continuously and not buy an eprib as we feel its expensive and isnt used except in an emergency.
On the other hand when we registered a fishing vessel we had to have a VHF radio. Why not make it compulsory that once a boat is bought one has to have an Eprib...the government can help in this and lower the registration fee for those who buy one or else we pay it by installments or at a subsidized rate. I know I shouldnt be reasoning this way but its money well spent from both parts. The gov saves on rescue operations and the boaters feel safer........
Tony, in fact this was one of my points in a comment I passed on the above article. Somehow people view all boaters as having loads of money so they should be able to afford these devices. But why is there 18% on emergency life saving equipment? Just like the government did a deal with Microsoft on IT software, perhaps they should do some deal with McMurdo or ACR to get special one-off pricing and launch a scheme.
We all know the AFM lack a decent budget and resourses to do their job effectively especially with the burden of illegal immigrants, so it would probably not only end up saving them money but provide a safer environment for all locally based boaters.
?300-?700 is quite a lot of money for an emergency device, though if going offshore and at night it's probably a worthy investment, but sadly and I speak for myself here, tends to get put on the 'wish list, would be nice to have if I have some extra money'. Locally Medcomms probably sell for the same price in Lm!
Blue skip, when you said stroblights, are they specially manufactured for life jackets, or are they similar to the ones we use for deep drop? I like the small flares idea as well.