She got into trouble within minutes of leaving the dock and the 13, tonne vessel capsized in just 90 seconds claiming the lives of passengers and crew.
But what exactly was the the Zeebrugge ferry disaster, who was on the passenger list, were there any survivors and when did it happen? Here's all you need to know The Zeebrugge ferry disaster occurred on the night of the 6 March just after it left the Belgian port.
At the time it was one of the fastest ways to get across the English Channel, as construction on the Channel Tunnel would not begin until over a year later. The roll-on roll-off vessel was originally found to have capsized as a result of the assistant boatswain falling asleep in his cabin when he should have been closing the door at the bow of the ship. However a later inquiry placed a greater level of blame on on his supervisors and the operating company Townsend Thorensen.
The resulting free surface effect destroyed her stability. In a matter of seconds, the ship began to list 30 degrees to port. The ship briefly righted herself before listing to port once more, this time capsizing. The entire event took place within 90 seconds. The water quickly reached the ship's electrical systems, destroying both main and emergency power and leaving the ship in darkness. The ship ended on her side half-submerged in shallow water 1 kilometre 0.
Only a fortuitous turn to starboard in her last moments, and then capsizing onto a sandbar , prevented the ship from sinking entirely in much deeper water, which would have resulted in an even higher death toll.
Crews aboard a nearby dredger noticed the Herald ' s lights disappear, and notified the port authorities. The alarm was raised at British time or Belgian time. A rescue helicopter arrived within half an hour, shortly followed by assistance from the Belgian Navy who were undertaking an exercise within the area. The disaster resulted in the deaths of people. Many of those on board had taken advantage of a promotion in The Sun newspaper for cheap trips to the continent.
The rescue efforts of the Belgian Navy limited the death toll. Recoverable bodies were removed in the days following the accident. During the rescue the tide started to rise and the rescue team was forced to stop all rescue until morning and the last of the people on board who were not rescued died of hypothermia.
Only a few families survived all together. It found the sinking was caused by three main factors--Stanley's failure to close the bow doors, Sabel's failure to make sure the bow doors were closed, and Lewry leaving port without knowing the bow doors were closed.
While the court determined the immediate cause of the sinking was Stanley's failure to close the bow doors, it was very critical of Sabel for not being in a position to prevent the disaster.
Leslie Sabel was the most immediate. This Court cannot condone such irresponsible conduct. The fact that Stanley was asleep at the time of departure led Sheen to examine the working practices of Townsend Thoresen , which concluded that the poor workplace communication and stand-off relationship between ship operators and shore-based managers was the root cause of the sinking, and identified a "disease of sloppiness" and negligence at every level of the corporation's hierarchy.
Issues relating to the breaking of waves high on the bow doors while under way and requests to have an indicator installed on the bridge showing the position of the doors were dismissed; the former because of the attitude that ships' masters would come and "bang on the desk" if an issue was truly important, and the latter because it was thought frivolous to spend money on equipment to indicate if employees had failed to do the ir job correctly.
Simon Osborne, of Leicestershire, was in sixth-form at the time of the incident and had been on a trip to Belgium with school friends. He told the Express the Herald was struck by a 'violent jolt' before 'almost instantaneously capsizing'.
Mr Osborne, a married father-of-four, told the paper: 'One man cried out as he crashed through a glass panel just feet from where I stood rooted to the spot, wide-eyed, frozen in fear. The doors were left open after a crew member responsible for closing them was still asleep on a break in his cabin, prompting a huge investigation into how no one else noticed or closed them.
Pictured is how the incident was reported in the Mail on Sunday in March It is though many more of the plus people on board would have died if not for amazing acts of bravery by some of the crew and passengers.
Pictured is survivor Nicola Simpson, second left, being reunited with her family, right, after the disaster. Mr Osborne said he realised he had a chance of survival when the water levels stopped rising but could only hear the cries of terror from other passengers became 'deafening'. He described his eventual rescue as a harrowing scene, forcing himself through dead bodies and wreckage to find help. Mr Osborne, who lost two year-old friends in the disaster, told the Express: 'It was like trying to swim through a rubbish dump.
I was exhausted but I was spotted by a frogman who put a rope harness under my arms and I was winched to safety. Lord Justice Sheen, who conducted the inquiry, said the company had been 'infected with the disease of sloppiness' from the top down. The inquiry confirmed the ferry had left the harbour with its bow doors open, allowing water to flood the car deck.
The 13, tonne boat was on its way to Dover when the catastrophe occurred. Pictured are rescue workers on the side of the ship on March 7. The ship was eventually salvaged after a slow and complex winching operation, and was eventually refloated in April of the same year.
She was put up for sale but after there was no interest she was taken to Taiwan where she was scrapped in It was also established that the crew member responsible for closing the doors was asleep at the time. An inquest jury returned verdicts of unlawful killing in October In September , an Old Bailey trial began but a month later the case collapsed after the judge directed the jury to acquit the defendants. The case was often cited during attempts by the government to get a Corporate Manslaughter Bill through Parliament.
Passengers Mary Smith and Neil Spooner, pictured, were two of those killed in the catastrophe. Before then, it was possible for a company to be prosecuted for a wide range of criminal offences, including the common law offence of gross negligence manslaughter. But for the company to be guilty of the offence, it was also necessary for a senior figure who could be said to embody the company to be guilty as well.
The offence was created to provide accountability for serious management failings across an organisation, and to overcome the problems at common law of 'identification'. The disaster also led to a far-reaching tightening of international ferry safety regulations, including new design standards for all ferries using UK ports.
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