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Coperta cartii NAUFRAGIUL NAVELOR PARIS SI YOU XIU - cel mai mare accident naval din istoria portului Constanta

13 Sep 2008

A aparut la editura TELEGRAF ADVERTISING in anul 2008. Pretul cartii: 55 RON, se poate comanda la adresa costyn_c@yahoo.com sau la Agentia de publicitate a cotidianului TELEGRAF, str. Mircea cel Batran nr. 119, telefon 0241/ 672.599, Constanta........................................................................................................................................... The shipwreck of PARIS and YOU XIU, the greatest naval accident in the history of Constanta port Constanta Port is, in size, the main Romanian port, the most important one at the Black Sea and the 4th in Europe, being positioned on the Western coast of the Black Sea, 179 Mm from Bosphor straits and 85 Mm from Sulina branch - where the Danube falls into the sea. The port is located at the crossroads of commercial routes connecting the markets of the countries in Central and East Europe which are not bordered by the sea, with the Trans-Caucasian Zone, Central Asia and the Far East. It is surrounded by the two satellite ports, Midia and Mangalia, which are part of the Romanian maritime port complex. The advantageous geographic position and the importance of Constanta Port are determined by its connection with the two Europe-wide transport passageways: Passage VII - the Danube (fluvial) and Passage IV (both fluvial and road), providing extraordinary opportunities for taking over the merchandise traffic, opportunities made possible by the Danube-Black Sea Canal, which leads to Constanta Port and which is connected with all means of transport: railways, roads, air and fluvial (the Danube-Black Sea Canal joins the Trans-European Rhine – Main - Danube passage). The weather forecast and the hydro-meteorological conditions. Never before in the history of Constanta Port, including during World War II, has such a catastrophe occurred, with so many material and, most importantly, human, losses. The disappearance in the depths of the sea of two ships and the death of 54 sailors, as a result of the joint shipwreck of „Paris??o and „You Xiu??o will certainly remain recorded as the greatest naval accident in the history of Constanta Port and of Romanian maritime ports. The main cause of the catastrophe was the weather, the hydro-meteorological conditions on the night of 4 January 1995. But for this situation, nothing would have occurred, even though, supposing the ships’ engines or the anchor’s chains would have broken down, holes would have been produced or the ships would have run out of fuel… In one or all of these situations, a ship or all in the roadstead could have sunk, but no way could so many people have died. It is obvious that the two ships were in the wrong place and at the wrong time, which is more of a destiny matter than hazard, more so because one of them had received storm warnings and, each time round, stood against it. For supporting our belief, we also add the release of the Constanta Regional Center for Prognosis and Marine Meteorology, which states that such a natural outburst occurs once every 10 - 12 years, but, „far from the ordinary??o, the extremely violent storm from the day/night of January 4th, 1995 took place closer to the shore. Violent wind with 31 m/sec… Huge waves of 8, 9 meters…Heavy snow-storm… Complete darkness… Very cold air and water… Extremely low visibility… Innocent sailors and their ships ended up in the middle of these terrible conditions, to face such hostile forces. And they were victims. None was saved… Everything started since 3 January, when weather conditions worsened, and the forecast for the following period predicted the outburst of the terrible storm. The weather prediction of Constanta Regional Center for Prognosis and Marine Meteorology, issued back from 1 PM on 3 January stated: „Starting with the night of January the 4th, 1995, the weather in Dobrudja will worsen. There will be stormy snow-falls and locally the snow deposit will surpass 10 - 15 cm. The wind will blow North and North-East with 60 - 65 km/h. The sea will reach 6th degree off-shore??o. The situation of the ships within the roadstead, before the catastrophe. The hydro-meteorological data issued on the night of 3 January predicted the storm’s outburst, the intensity of the wind on a scale between 4 and 6, temporarily 5 to 8 off-shore and a tense sea from 3 to 4 on the coast and 5 to 6 offshore. On the same evening a storm warning was issued for the following 72 hours, which predicted wind from North, East and North-East for up to strength 6 - 8, weather condition reaching 5th - 6th degree, with a wave height of 3 to 6 meters and temporarily low visibility under one maritime mile, due to the snowfalls. On the morning of 4 January a new prediction was issued for the following 12 hours, according to which the North and North-East wind will be 5 to 7, temporarily 8 in strength, the sea 4-5 at shore and degree 6 - 7 offshore. In the inner roadstead of Constanta Port there were 2 ships („Mohac??o and „Ivan Pribilsky??o), the other 14 being located in the outer roadstead, as follows: - 1st Area: „You Xiu??o, „Paris??o, „Sea Bulke Hope??o, „Pergamus??o, „Marios??o and „Kremlinka??o; - 2nd Area: „Spiros B??o and „Elinka??o; - 3rd Area: „Saturn??o, „Birdie??o, „Panega??o and „Bucsani??o; - Offshore: „Sea Fortune??o and „Star Hero??o. At 09,00, Port Surveillance Unit (PSU) requested all the ships to switch to VHF 12 frequency in order to receive the meteorological forecast on Constanta-radio. The „Kaptan Necdet Or??o ship was on its way to Constanta, PSU allowing it to enter into the inner roadstead of the port, at 08,40. There it was anchored, being due to begin docking maneuvers at moorings 21, whenever the weather was favorable. Being aware of the weather forecast and the storm warning issued by Constanta-radio, the ships turned and stood against the storm; in the outer roadstead were anchored only „Sea Bulke Hope??o, „Paris??o and „You Xiu??o. At 16,00 „Sea Bulke Hope??o was warned about the fact that its anchor was harrowing and was dangerously approaching the northern dam, and, on PSU advice, it heaves the anchor round and marches offshore at 17,00. Within the outer roadstead there were only 2 ships left: „Paris??o and „You Xiu??o. The sinking of PARIS (Maltese flag). „Paris??o was a bulk-carrier, with a 25.957 tdw displacement, length 174,1 m, width 25,51 m, height 14,1 m, maximum draught: 9,95 m. It was built in 1971 in Osaka, Japan. The ship was under the command of the Greek George Pragias, 45 year-old, the crew comprising 27 members (the age average was 36,7 years). Paris had arrived empty within the roadstead of Constanta Port on 14 December 1994, from Piraeus, Greece, and it was waiting to load approximately 25.000 tones of carbamide. It was anchored at about 3,8 Mm from the port’s northern dam and it carried about 12 tones of light fuel and 236 tones of heavy fuel. At 12,00, answering the request to enter the inner roadstead for bunker completion, Constanta Port Administration, after consulting with ??oAtlas Pilot??? and in order to safely perform the bunk operation, gave permission to enter and dock into the passenger moorings. In this situation, towards 13,15, the Central Supervisory of the Port Administration announced the Port Surveillance Unit (PSU) that „Paris??o had the permission to enter the port, in order to load fuel. The PSU established a contact with „Paris??o, requesting them to heave the anchor round and to come to the entrance, for which reason, at 14,00 the piloting boat „Atlas 1??o with the pilot on board, left the base and waited for „Paris??o at the end of the northern dam, for approximately 2 hours. At 14,15, Port Surveillance Unit got in contact again with „Paris??o and requested information about the state of their maneuver. „Paris??o replied that they have noticed a defect within the anchor’s winch and that they are trying to solve the problem, and then re-heave the anchor round. All this time, „Paris??o was continually questioned by Port Surveillance Unit about the state of their problem, but they replied that repairs are still on the way, and after getting them done, they will remain anchored until the next morning, requesting at the same time (17,00h) that the other ships were warned about „Paris??o situation. At 18,10, Constanta Port Surveillance Unit noticed that the ship’s anchorage position was modified, due to the harrowing of the anchor and they recommended „Paris??o to heave and go offshore, in order to resist the storm, repeatedly warning the commander over the danger he was exposing his ship and crew. At 19,00, the ship was already at a 0,55 mm distance from the northern dam, with the tendency of approaching it, and informed that its helm was in the ??oright band’ position, and the main engine „full speed ahead??o. It was too late. Because of the extremely powerful wind, of the big waves and of technical problems, the ship could no longer be commanded and it got too close to the dam, parallel with it. Port Surveillance Unit noted (19,20h) on the radar screen that the ship could no longer be told apart from the dam. At 19,50 the ship sent off the S.O.S signal and at 20,10, the ship’s commander, probably in his desire to consult with the owner, immediately requested a dial-up connection with Athens, which took about 12 minutes. During the phone conversation, the commander did not let the impression that he was alarmed by the situation he and his crew were in. The maritime authorities, already alarmed, sent „Viteazul??o drag-boat in a rescue and support mission. When it got next to it, in the port’s inner roadstead, „Viteazul??o informed that „Paris??o was no longer lit (20,10). At 20,30, Port Surveillance Unit receives the last message from „Paris??o, the commander of the latter announcing that the ship had began to sink, from the poop. At 21,45, the drag-boat, anchored in the inner roadstead, informed Port Surveillance Unit that the ship had sunk, and at 00,12 on 5 January 1995, reported that of „Paris??o only a mast was visible. „Paris??o was gone into the depths of the sea. There were no survivors. The sinking of the ship YOU XIU (Hong Kong flag). „You Xiu??o was a bulk-carrier, with a displacement of 26.802 tdw., length 167,2 m, width 26,2 m, height 13,4 m and a maximum draught of 9,54 m. It has been built in 1992 in Kobe (Japan). The ship’s master was Shi Hai Bin, 44 y.o., of Chinese nationality, with a crew comprising 27 members (age average of the crew: 35,2 years). It had arrived empty in the roadstead of ConstanALa Port on 28 October 1994, from Italy, and was waiting to load about 20.000 tons of carbamide. The ship was anchored about 3,3 Mm from the Prt’s northernmost dam. At 17,10, in the day of 4 January 1995, the Port surveillance unit contacted the ship „You Xiu??o, positioned 0,6 Mm West from PARIS, communicating that the latter has a broken winch and, as the weather was becoming worse, it recommended to steer the anchor either in order to change the anchorage location, or to aim off-shore and stand against the storm. „You Xiu??o’s answer was „Ok??o. At 18,00, when the shift from Port Surveillance Unit was changed, the situation of the ships from the roadstead was as follows: four ships were anchored in the inner roads, 10 were confronting the storm off shore, the ship PARIS was anchored in the 1st Area, encountering problems with the anchor winch, 3,5 Mm from the end of the northern dam, the ship „You Xiu??o was also anchored in the 1st Area, preparing the manouver to change the anchorage or to steer off shore, 1,9 Mm from the same point. Because of the wind and tense sea, the ship’s anchor started harrowing (the ship was now 1,9 Mm away from the northern dam), which led the PSU to inform it (hh 18,10) about this situation, recommending to steer away and sail off shore. During the communication, the ship answered that there were some problems with the main engine. The ship’s drift towards the dam continued, its position becoming extremely dangerous, so that, at 18,54, it had already arrived only 185 meters away from the dam, requesting thus the support of dragboats. The Rescue Team was allerted but, after several minutes, the ship withdrew its request for assistance. On the PSU radar, the ship’s position was the same as the northern dam’s (19,20h) and, shortly afterwards, a message arrived from aboard it saying that there was a leak in the ship and that a quick intervention from the rescue dragboats is necessary. The first S.O.S. signal sent by „You Xiu??o has been received at 19,55h, but it was too late. The ship was starting to be flooded, to lean sideways and to sink (21,15h). Reaching the area of the ship’s miscarry, in the port\\\'s inner roads, the dragboat „Viteazul??o lit its projectors and directed them towards the ship, launching at the same time light-rockets equipped with parachuttes, in order to increase visibility at sea and to discover the possible survivors (21,55h), but the weather (extremely strong wind and snowstorm) blocked the view. From aboard the rescue ship a message was sent (22,50h) that only the upper part of the ship was visible, then (24,00h) that the prow was also sunk. There were no survivors. Seeking and rescue procedures. Even in the evening of January, 4th, the Romanian portuary authorities launched an ample seeking and rescue procedure, coordinated by a Commandment, involving both human, naval and earth forces, but also aerial ones, all of them covering the whole seaside area beween ConstanALa and Vama Veche. Between 4 January and 15 January 1995, the forces involved in these procedures included rescue dragboats: „Viteazul??o, „Smit-Lloyd 109??o (Netherlands), „Perseu??o, „Chefalu 7??o, „Suceveni 6??o, motorboats and other kinds of ships: „Marea??o, „Acva 1??o, „Canara??o, „Coral II??o, „Hidrograf 2??o, „Pesc?fruAY 1??o, „Saturn??o, „Depol 2??o, „Depol 9??o, off-road vehicles, bombardiers, divers, coastguards, officers of the Masters’ Office Constanta, Police forces, firefighters, as well as ships and helicopters from the National Defense Ministry. The seeking procedures were continuous from early morning until late dusk both around the area where the two ships were sunk, in the Constanta Port’s inner and outer roadstead, but also throughout the seaside area (beaches) from Tomis Port (ConstanALa) - Eforie Nord - Eforie Sud - Cap Tuzla - Mangalia - Vama Veche. For the whole period divings were also made to the two wrecks, in order to recover the bodies which may have remained blocked in the cabins and in order to find the ships’ position after the shipwreck. No body was found blocked in the cabins of the two ships, but the state of the cabins, of some installations, devices and equipments was observed, and some objects were recovered (a flag belonging to „Paris??o ship, a telex file from the wreck of „You Xiu??o). Underwater shootings were performed inside some cabins and outside the ships, around the command decks. The northern dam has been checked in the fractured area in order to evaluate its condition and the damage produced by the collision with the waves and the bodies of the two ships. The first bodies were seen and recovered on 5 January (three on the Eforie Sud beach and one at sea, trawled by the dragboat „Smit-Lloyd 109??o). Some debris from the two ships has alsoo been found (life-preservers and rescue rafts, cans, ropes, parts of equipment and clothing, other materials). The investigation unveiling the causes and circumstances of the accident. Only a few hours from the midnight of 4 January 1995, at 02,45, when the seeking and rescue procedures were carried on, the Ministry of Transportation Aurel Novac, issued Order no. 4 regarding the gathering of a research commission to find the causes and circumstances which led to the shipwreck of „Paris??o and „You Xiu??o. According to the same Order, the report had to be finalized and forwarded in 15 days. The activity of the commission was mainly based on relevant statements and information received from those that had an active role in the seeking and rescue procedures, but also gathered documents, materials and fragments from the two ships, as well as video clips and radio or radar records. To this end, the commission requested the support of local and portuary authorities, but also of some portuary companies, in order to access every document and item of information regarding the accident. The drafting of the conclusions also took into consideration the damage produced to the northern dam and the size of the hydrocarbon pollution. Part of these statements and documents (logbook copies of all the ships from the roadsteads and the rescue ships, copies of the reports and operative drafts, protocols and observance reports etc.), along with the final report about the research and establishment of the causes leading to the shipwreck of „Paris??o and „You Xiu??o, are presented herein or in the Appendices Chapter. The catastrophy, as viewed by the Romanian media. The naval catastrophy from the evening of 4 January 1995 raised a huge interest from the Romanian, and foreign, mass media. The first ones informed about the occurence of the accident and who were directly involved in the events were the reporters and operators from the „Telegraf - TV Neptun??o Informational Center from ConstanALa. In fact, „Telegraf??o was the first and only Romanian and worldwide daily newspaper which, on 5 January, wrote about the terrible accident from the outer roadsteads of the ConstanALa Port. Being informed about the accidnet shortly after its occurence, the paper’s editor in charge gave several phone calls to some representatives of the local authorities: the officer in charge from the Civil Defense Commandment and, on his home phone, the head of this institution, Lieutenant-Colonel A?tefan Geant?f, along with General-Major Ionel Arghiroiu, Head of the Constanta County Police Inspectorate and Dumitru Lungu, vicepresident of the Constanta County Council. The editorial offices of „Telegraf??o newspaper and „Neptun??o TV station received innumerable phone calls from some press agencies (Reuters, Asociated Press), radio stations (Radio-Nord-Est IaAYi, Free Europe), TV stations (Tele7abc, TVT1 TimiAYoara), a number of local and central newspapers, while the editors sent a lot of telephone correspondences, making available some information, photos and video clips from the location of the tragedy. In 9 January, the divers from „Onacva??o company, joined by contributors and technicians of TV Neptun ConstanALa, taking advantage of the wind blows’ decrease in intensity, the calm sea and the better view, performed divings and shootings aboard „You Xiu??o, which had its prow 45 degrees from the dam directed off shore, leaned on the prot side and with the poop towards the dam\\\'s base. Two ropes were observed to reach the surface from aboard the two sunken ships. During the underwater investigation, the control cabin has been checked, observing the control panel, the gyrocompass and other equipments and devices. The machine’s telegraph has been found with the hand lever positioned „Back!??o; no body has been seen. The subsequent divings and shootings did not revealed relevant facts about the tragedy’s causes. During the 12 January shooting, the divers from „Tethis??o company (also performing underwater shootings) recovered and brought to the surface, from the radio-telegrapher room on „Paris??o wreck, the stopwatch with the hour 19,45 inscribed. The same day, the divers of „Onacva??o company filmed inside the \\\"You Xiu??o wreck and, in the radio room, found the stopwatch showing 20,25h! We present the news and reports about the event, as they were published in some local („Telegraf??o and „Cuget liber??o) and central („RomAcnia liber?f??o, „Evenimentul zilei??o, „Cotidianul??o, „Adev?frul??o, „Azi??o, „Cronica romAcn?f??o) Romanian newspapers, in a chronological order, with a note that all photographs added to the respective texts are part of the personal archive of this book’s authors. Constantin CUMP?N?, Andrei - Dorian CUMP?N?

Cumpana Constantin

Link catre fotografie