Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990 TAG: 9004080217
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: OSLO, NORWAY LENGTH: Long
The Danish owners of the car ferry said they strongly suspected arson. Some passengers said the boat's fire alarms didn't work and the crew seemed unprepared for the emergency.
"There were plenty of people aboard, and I guess they all tried to leave at the same time," said Norwegian firefighter Sven-Johan Svenson. "Some of those who got left behind and died just didn't find their way out."
Dr. Tom Brokopp, leader of a Swedish medical rescue team, told reporters at the Swedish port of Lysekil that 75 bodies were counted so far on the Scandinavian Star ferry and that 71 more were dead or missing. He said some missing were still in the ship and others were in the sea.
However, assistant Oslo police commissioner Bjoern Gran told Norwegian radio that the deaths would total about 150.
"We have been in contact with Swedish police, and they say there were no more survivors on board," Gran said.
In Oslo, Jan Erik Nermoen, representing the Danish VR-DANO Line that owns the ship, said 493 passengers and crew were on a manifest.
The ferry caught fire early Saturday after leaving Oslo en route to the Danish port of Frederikshavn.
Up to 340 people were reported rescued from lifeboats by helicopters and about seven nearby vessels in the Skagerrak Straits, 44 miles south of the Norwegian Ferder Island. More than 20 injured were taken to hospitals.
The Swedish news agency TT said it was the worst ferry disaster in Scandinavian waters.
The fire was the worst North Sea ship disaster since March 6, 1987, when a car ferry, the Herald of Free Enterprise, capsized off the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, killing 189 people. That accident was blamed on ship personnel who failed to close bow doors, allowing water to rush in.
The Scandinavian Star, still burning and listing, was guided by tugs to a dock in Lysekil port on Sweden's west coast Saturday night, more than 18 hours after it caught fire. Much of the midships section on the upper decks was blackened.
More than 100 bodies remained aboard, district Police Chief Roar Onso said, adding that they would not be removed before today. He said it would take several days to investigate the cause of the fire.
Most of the dead apparently had succumbed to smoke, and few were seriously burned, said Conny Englund, head of the Swedish Sea Rescue Center at Lysekil. Firefighters who probed the blackened compartments of the 10,000-ton ferry said they found three passengers, alive and apparently uninjured, among the many bodies.
"We woke up in the middle of the night. I heard a noise outside. I went out of the cabin and saw thick, black smoke," said Danish passenger Leo Odeland, an Oslo resident traveling with his wife and two daughters.
"Nothing happened when I pushed the fire alarm. I hadn't heard the alarm go off. At another place where there was supposed to be an alarm, nothing was there."
Odeland said the crew was "apparently new and untrained."
"It was hard to get the lifeboat into the water and then the motor didn't start," he said, adding that the lifeboat drifted away and a Soviet freighter picked them up.
Brokopp quoted several passengers as saying alarms didn't work and crew members had trouble understanding each other because they spoke different languages.
"It was chaotic," said passenger Eli Kvale Neilsen. "It was clear that the crew was not trained for this kind of situation."
Passenger and crew lists were not immediately available, rescue officials said, and this led to confusion about the numbers and identities of those aboard the Scandinavian Star. The crew was believed to be largely Portuguese, with Scandinavian officers.
The Bahamian-registered ferry is owned by the Danish shipping company VR-DANO Line. SeaEscape Ltd of Miami sold the ship to VR-DANO last month, a SeaEscape spokeswoman said in a telephone interview from Miami.
Danish radio quoted Ole Hansen, managing director of the Danish company, as saying he was virtually certain the fire had been deliberately set aboard the ferry.
Hansen, speaking at a news conference in Copenhagen, insisted the vessel was safe, but he refused to discuss the reports that alarms had not worked on the ferry and that the crew was untrained.
Company officials said two fires broke out on separate decks within 15 minutes. Crew members reportedly extinguished the first fire, then discovered a bigger blaze one deck below.
Scandinavian news reports quoted survivors as saying the fire began on a low deck, beneath the ferry's water line and near the stern. Thick smoke spread upward, through the deck where passengers' cars were parked and through a higher deck where a casino and bars are located.
Maritime and police officials in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway announced plans for a joint investigation. Gran told reporters that the inquiry would be based on the theory that the fire had been deliberately set.
Anders Lindstrom, head of the Swedish Seafarers' Union, blamed the fire on on shipping companies who register ships under flags of convenience to escape regulations concerning crew hiring and safety.
The Scandinavian Star's distress signal was sent about 2:30 a.m. (8:30 p.m. EDT Friday). News reports quoted survivors as saying the fire was already widespread at that time.
Hansen denied a Swedish radio report that some passengers had slept in their cars, a practice that could contribute to safety hazards. The vessel has large doors at both ends to allow vehicles to drive on and off.
An engine-room fire broke out aboard the Scandinavian Star in March, 1988, as it sailed from Cozumel, Mexico, to Tampa, Fla. None of the 439 passengers, mostly Americans, was injured.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the ship's smoke-detectors apparently failed, an automatic fire-extinguishing system did not work and emergency generators didn't work for an hour after the fire. It also said the crew was poorly trained for firefighting.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB