Herald of Free Enterprise remembered

TheMightyTen

TheMightyTen

TheMightyTen

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Joined
4 Feb 2003
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Birmingham
30 years ago today 193 people lost their lives due to a catalogue of bad practice and negligence in an idustry that had become complacent and safety ignorant.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39116394

Really doesn't seem like 30 years as I remember it so vividly. We used to use the cross channel ferries a lot back then and events that led to her sinking were not that rare as we well knew from experience.

RIP the 193 and thoughts to the families of those that are still left.
 
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90 seconds to capsize. I can't think of anything more terrifying to happen. Except if it's at night, like the Estonian ship.
 
Easily avoidable. Such a tragic loss.

"There was a woman near me, and she was holding a little girl above the water.

"Helicopters were overhead, but they couldn't see us. So I flung myself back into the sea and there was a fishing boat. The woman kept screaming 'don't leave me to die' and I shouted back I would tell rescuers where she was.

"I don't know what happened to the woman or the little girl. I tried to find out and I put out an appeal. I'm fairly sure they both died."
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:(
 
robfosters said:
90 seconds to capsize. I can't think of anything more terrifying to happen. Except if it's at night, like the Estonian ship.
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It had just turned dark as she capsized at about 18:28 (19:28 Belgian time), all efforts to rescue were performed in the dark :(. There were some real heroic efforts shown that night.
 
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R.I.P.

It seems far more recent in my memory than 30 years ago should, I guess it was quite a major incident and quite shocking.
 
Remember it well, my Brother even more so as he was on the boat the previous day returning from a school trip :(
 
We were supposed to be catching it a few weeks later for a school trip ... there was a veritable **** storm when it happened about whether it was safe for us to go away.
 
This was the first tragedy that really hit me when I was younger.

I couldn't help feeling so very sad for all those poor people that lost their lives and those survivors that had to deal with the situation in the best way they could.

I've watched the 'seconds to disaster' on this on YouTube and can't help but be dismayed by what happened.

RIP those brave people.
 
Remember this vividly, if it had been in deeper water then I would imagine the loss of life would have been much worse.

RIP
 
memyselfandi said:
We were supposed to be catching it a few weeks later for a school trip ... there was a veritable **** storm when it happened about whether it was safe for us to go away.
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There used to be a memorial garden at my secondary school - sadly can't remember details now but I believe some students from the school died coming back from a trip.


EDIT: Ah one family from the town died in the tragedy one of them being a pupil at the school and the memorial was created to all the children who died.
 
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wnb said:
As simple as shutting a door. The guy who's job it was to shut the door was fast asleep in his bunk. It beggars belief.
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Its worth looking at the investigation - its pretty damning of the corporate structure - putting staff under undue pressure/overworked and complacent to the point of negligence towards health and safety - these days a few of the upper management would have ended up in jail.
 
If I remember correctly it was common practice to set sail with the doors open to close on the way saving time.

I can remember being really upset with this as we used to do the Felixstowe-Zeebrugge return twice a year to see my dad in Germany
 
I was living in Ramsgate at the time and part of my Dad's job was working on the database of those who survived and those who didn't. I had a Herald/Spirit cutaway poster on the wall. Sad times. :(
 
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