According to sources, four bodies were recovered during the salvage of the ill-fated sightseeing boat Hableany, which was pulled from the Danube River early Tuesday, June 11, nearly two weeks after sinking.
As Reuters reports, Hungarian salvage crews prepared to raise the wreck of the boat that capsized on the Danube river, Budapest, and resulted to the loss of 26 South Korean tourists and two local crew. All the bodies, except eight, have been recovered.
During the 2019 SAFETY4SEA London Forum, Mr. Elias Psyllos, VP Commercial and Risk Management, T&T Salvage mainly presented a case study to demonstrate effective ways in handling of emergencies. A salvage operation is expensive as it’s a very unique operation that needs many lessons learned and there’s a lot of feedback coming out for the operators.
Sam Kendall-Marsden, head of claims for The Standard Club, provided a future look to emerging trends and significant issues in the world of salvage and wreck removal. Mr Kendall-Marsden focuses on mega boxship casualties, in waste management, technology, the changing nature of the salvage industry and Wildcards.
This week, shipping commemorated the grounding and sinking of the cruise ship ‘Sea Diamond’ off the Greek island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea. The incident resulted in two fatalities, but it is still discussed for lying at the bottom of Aegean Sea as a ‘toxic bomb’ in the local marine ecosystem.
Korea Protection and Indemnity Club (KP&I) appointed the American salvage company Resolve Marine to oversee the ‘Solomon Trader’ response in the Solomon Islands, in the South Pacific ocean. The Hong Kong-flagged bulk carrier ‘Solomon Trader’ was loading bauxite when it ran aground due to unexpected gale at Kangava Bay.
The large salvage of the containers that went overboard the MSC Zoe container ship last week is about to begin on the North Sea, according to the Dutch Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management Rijkswaterstaat. Two large salvage vessels and a smaller one are deployed on behalf of the MSC.
While talking at the first SAFETY4SEA Conference in Hamburg, Mr. Mauricio Garrido, President at T&T Salvage LLC, discussed ‘ways to respond when safety fails’ from marine salvage industry perspective, noting that the constantly emerging regulations and the influx of larger and larger ships are challenging safety in the sector.
On Saturday afternoon, Thai authorities managed to recover the wreck of the tourist boat ‘Phoenix’, which sank in July claiming lives of over 40 people onboard. The sunken vessel had been lying in 45 metres of water, about 4 km off Ko Hae, near Phuket, since 5 July, when it capsized in heavy weather. Previous attempts to refloat the sunken boat had been unsuccessful.
The US Coast Guard continues to evaluate salvage and marine firefighting capabilities listed in vessel response plans. This aims to ensure compliance regarding planning requirements for vessels navigating in US territorial waters. The US Coast Guard is requiring plan holders to provide evidence that the agreements supporting SMFF services are adequate.
