Ship hits Woodhouse Reef, Tiran, Sharm El Sheikh

[Red Sea Shadow]

Yes that's right. The hit is in the southern western side.

 

[Crowley]

Hi guys -

There's a rumour circulating here (I work in Sharm also) that the ship may have been ordered to turn away from the coast by the Navy, because the president was at home.

(For those who don't know, the Egyptian president has a residence in Sharm and when he is at home, there is a 3 mile exclusion around the area and we have to sail half way to Saudi Arabia to get to Tiran in the process!)

The captain therefore deliberately attempted to navigate a 230 metre long vessel with a 35 metre beam through an 80 metre gap. Technically possibly, but the wind howling down the Straits of Tiran can be pretty strong and would have hit him broadside. I don't think the conditions were too rough that day but you can also get some pretty strong currents in the area.

Could there possibly be any truth in this?

C.

 

[Interceptor121]

Mubarak is inside the Jolie Ville and usually you get turn away at the garden. So why the boat would have not passed the channel and turned after?
I read this boat had already another collision two years ago which makes it a bit of a bad horse?
Besides in the Grafton passage at low tide it could have been stranded again close to jackson

 

[Crowley]

well yeah that was my first thought when I heard it: why would they force her to turn there, rather than let the vessel continue past gordon and away out to sea. It seems a little daft if that really was the case... but first impressions seem to suggest that the ship was deliberately guided in that direction, as opposed to a steering failure, for example.

The big question now is what they're going to do about getting all the containers off. If they have to be removed in situ that will require a massive crane ship and a smiliarly sized ship to move them away; how that is accomplished without smashing up the reef even further we will wait and see.

I don't know interceptor personally but I guess updates will follow as and when we actually find out anything more!

Cheers,

C.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

Well the only update I have is that she's gone yesterday morning.

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

One thing I was thinking of is the possibility of positioning some mooring buoys in the depression caused by the collision. What do you guys think?

 

[Interceptor121]

If that is the side on the channel there is always waves and surf so the mooring would be ripped off quickly

 

[Crowley]

I haven't been to Tiran since the ship hit Woodhouse but I did see if from the shore at Ras Ghamila. I understand she ploughed about 35 metres into the reef? I haven't seen the hole, and there may be enough room there for a shamandoura to shelter a couple of dive boats, but otherwise I don't think it would be much use? Hammerheads maybe - but we all go to Jackson for those...

 

[Red Sea Shadow]

The depression she made is very obvious in the aerial photo I posted before. It's approximately a 20 meters x 30 meters hole.

Yes it's the outer side of the Enterprise Passage. But sometimes the conditions are favorable.

 

[divebunnie]

Yes, apparently she has been finally floated off the reef.

Yesterday a group of divers were planning to mark up and assess the damage. Partly for research, and party to work out how much the company will be fined for the damage caused. They will be charged according to the area of coral damaged, although I am not sure how much.

I'm going up there today for the first time since it happened, so if the weather permits, and my guests are up for it, I will see if we can dive it and take a look for ourselves... not sure if my guests will really want to see a big white hole in the coral though