Fire on safari boat Suzana in Egypt (Red Sea Aggressor)

[Ken Kurtis]

The crew of the Conception admitted no one was on watch. That is the foundation of the statement made by NTSB.

I apologize ahead of time for sounding cryptic or like I'm sitting on "secret" information but that statement is not exactly correct, although it IS what everyone perceives to be correct.

NTSB stated in their interim report that the crew was asleep. But no one from Truth Aquatics has said that, certainly not publicly. Also bear in mind that at the time NTSB released the initial interim report, NTSB also said they had interviewed only 3 of the 5 crew members and had not talked with the other 2 at the request of USCG. I believe one of those not interviewed was the captain, Jerry Boylan, and you would think he'd provide a fuller picture of what the watch situation was.

Don't forget that it's been established that the fire broke out sometime prior to 3:14AM (timeline of the mayday call) but at 2:35AM, one of the crew walked through the main deck area - including the galley and salon - and all was well. Down the road as other details become more public, I believe what will become known is that there WERE crew members awake, but up in the wheelhouse, and obviously unaware that a fire had broken out.

My impression is that the omission/deficiency in the Conception tragedy is that no one was specifically assigned to a specific watch. It seems like the presumption was that whoever was awake/available was on watch, and that's effectively the same as no one taking care of it because it's easy for everyone to think someone else has it covered.

(EDIT/ADDED - My understanding is that the info I have is also known at this time to NTSB and/or USCG. So if your question is, "If what you say is true, why did they issue the statement they did," my reply would be that you'd have to ask them directly. Also, I'm simply sharing what I think to be true. Doesn't mean I think it was a good plan. Don't shoot the messenger.)

 

[Ken Kurtis]

Hi, I just posted the video I took when we jumped from the RSA1 boat on fire. Second part of the video is when I am in the zodiac that rescued us.

First of all, glad you survived and thank you for sharing your video. Though brief, hopefully it can shed some light on what the cause of the fire was as well as perhaps help investigators in the Conception investigation as well. Looking at batteries as the culprit, I can't remember exactly where the charging stations were on RS1 but I find it interesting that, as you drift off of the port side of the boat, it seems that the inferno is on the back dive deck area, not inside the salon. Maybe that will help provide answers.

I'm a big believer in that one of the ways we get through these tragedies and cope is to find something to laugh at to temporarily relieve our sorrow. And I confess that I chuckled quite loudly when in the first few seconds of your video, a female voice says, "You have your *****ng camera?!?!?!?"

 

[DandyDon]

And I confess that I chuckled quite loudly when in the first few seconds of your video, a female voice says, "You have your *****ng camera?!?!?!?"

​

 

[Jay]

They said they had a night watchman. I didn't get up at night to see and really, how many of us do? Do you really look for them everywhere; in the engine room or the galley, all places off limits to passengers? So I won't jump to my own conclusions about that. But I had one group member who got ill (other reasons) and spent time in the salon trying to sleep, moving about, etc. He "usually saw the mechanic/engineer on watch". His words. So some other information to chew on.

People, slow down! We do not know that no one was on watch. Someone was on watch on my cruises. You don't always see the person on watch on a boat with multiple decks and areas you are not allowed to enter. Until we know what is what, please don't condemn anyone.

Yes I agree with the "slow-down" aspect, but some wording might be getting a bit sloppy; you can't say someone was on watch on your cruise (second quote) because you don't know (first quote). You certainly *think* someone was, and perhaps the mechanic/engineer had a dual role (with a wake-able backup if needed), but you don't know for sure.

Translated from German from a passenger on the cruise:
"Chargers must only be operated on the dedicated table in the rear of the main deck. Right next to the staircase that leads up from the lower deck, into the so-called 'Saloon'. They told us there always would be someone, all around the clock - as a fire watch.

I can swear there was no fire watch. I am a night owl, was usually the last guest on the boat, who was still awake. Mostly on a sundeck chair still looking at the stars or reading with my e-book reader. When I came down from there, via the upper deck, down to the dive deck, through the glass door into the salon, towards the lowest deck, on the first evening I noticed that no one was present. 'So much for a fire watch,' I thought. The thought came back to me on the evening of October 31, when I again was the last person to go down the stairs to the lower deck cabins, right between the coffee machine and battery charging desk at around 11 pm."

The quote immediately above also doesn't say conclusively there was no fire-watch. It implies they had implied a fire-watch would be dedicated to that charging table and the watch be based on/near that table. The statement doesn't address the possibility of having a roaming fire-watch or that duty combined with other duties or they might have had a CCTV camera looking at the charging table with a feed to the bridge.

We simply don't know ... which is kind-of obvious, but we need to be careful with our words / statements until then.

When I LOB now, I open/close/climb through every escape hatch, regardless of which cabin I'm in. I check if any door to/from a hatch might/can be locked/blocked, check if something could fall on a hatch and block it etc ...

I suggest we all do it, and be a little (politely) vocal with our findings. One way or another we can help invoke change.

At future LOB briefings I'll be asking who is doing fire-watch, and the details of the process.

 

[chillyinCanada]

While I don't agree with their comments either, your comment comes off poorly, as well. I would expect better, especially from staff.

Emotions can run hot in the wake of tragedies but let's try to take the high road...

I hear you.

I wonder whether or not you noticed that Egypt66 has only ever made 2 posts before and they were back in 2012 when he was trying to sell the MY Miss Veena?

I may be mistaken but wasn't that the boat that became Aggressor Oman (now in Saudi, iirc)?

Again, I could be wrong but the reason that I recommended being quiet was for his own good.

I would also like to say that the $123 raised and provided for the survivors was probably all that could be cobbled together in the moment.

And that whilst Aggressor does generally have marketing logo'd clothing for sale, it was probably all on the Suzana and/or the sister ship, that was still out at sea, as far as I knew. If anyone knows that there is inventory kept on land in Mr. Home or Achmed's offices, then that's a different matter.

I had chosen *not* to bring these thoughts up earlier because they're not really pertinent in the larger picture, to that of the survivors' stories that were still coming out at that time.

 

[tursiops]

I would also like to say that the $123 raised and provided for the survivors was probably all that could be cobbled together in the moment.

The $123 is almost exactly 2000 Egyptian Pounds; that is probably what the distribution was.

 

[KevinNM]

What is pertinent is that the NTSB took the quite extraordinary step of, after the Conception fire, releasing an Interim report based on very little investigation that basically said,

There was a fire, the whole crew was asleep, lots of people died.

I think that this was a clear statement that while the regulations will be a while in coming, that they thought it would be *extremely* necessary for the entire industry to understand their simple message and act on it.

Actually, the NTSB always releases a prelim report as soon as they have gathered the easily available data. Which is good as it takes from 1-2+ years for the final report. With the Conception fire there will be a Coast Guard hearing well before that will be informative. And it may well recommend criminal prosecutions.

But yes, there are clearly going to be regulatory changes. Might be of the nature that scuba/fishing live-aboards are not commercial viable going forward, might be a whole lot less impact. Hopefully they will be well thought out and effective.

 

[chillyinCanada]

The $123 is almost exactly 2000 Egyptian Pounds; that is probably what the distribution was.

Hmmm

So if it wasn't just what was cobbled from pockets or ability to acquire from ATMin that short period of time, it does seem to be rather "short" unless it was $2000 Egyptian for each survivor not for the whole?

 

[nm7sp]

Actually, the NTSB always releases a prelim report as soon as they have gathered the easily available data. Which is good as it takes from 1-2+ years for the final report. With the Conception fire there will be a Coast Guard hearing well before that will be informative. And it may well recommend criminal prosecutions.

But yes, there are clearly going to be regulatory changes. Might be of the nature that scuba/fishing live-aboards are not commercial viable going forward, might be a whole lot less impact. Hopefully they will be well thought out and effective.

Exactly,
If the industry regulates itself (effectively) before these hearings then things may turn out well, but this latest incident would appear to forecast a gloomy future. If the boat owners/operators are not achieving this then maybe the insurers need to apply some pressure, before government steps in.
PS - maybe DEMA's agenda could have two new items, right at the top.
1) Bullet proof fire detection/suppression systens with multi layered defence systems (both technological and human based)
2) Fire prevention systems and fire escape systems.

 

[tursiops]

Hmmm

So if it wasn't just what was cobbled from pockets or ability to acquire from ATM in that short period of time, it does seem to be rather "short" unless it was $2000 Egyptian for each survivor not for the whole?

I interpreted the Ivy202 report in post #131 to be $123 per surviving passenger.