"Salaam 98" dissapears from radar with 1300 passengers onboard

[Susanne]

Hm, according to this swedish website her maximum number of passengers are 1300. On the news they say she had 1415 people on board (the last time I checked) and the company agent has said that it's far below what she's allowed to have. According to that person her maximum numbers of passengers are 2500. A little different information, I wonder which is right? Does anybody know?
/Susanne

[Guest]

BBC News 24 ran a piece twenty minutes ago which indicated that the ferry in question had once been a Townsend Thoresen ferry in UK.

[Phil English]

"BBC News 24 ran a piece twenty minutes ago which indicated that the ferry in question had once been a Townsend Thoresen ferry in UK......"



Except of course we all know that it wasn't..
 :-)

[Guest]

...and they say ID cards for individuals might be a good idea :-)  ... maybe first we should ID the vessels we all travel in, then someone might be able to get a handle on who in what is supposed to be where and when :-D

[ogianne]

The ship Al salam boccaccio 98 sailed for the company Tirrenia di navigazione for further information in this Italian site an language italian. http://www.navitirrenia.net/amarcord/poeta.htm

The photos are not Swedish but Italian only for the livery tirrenia.

[mooselet]

The website cruiseferries.net has the passenger capacity as
1300 in 1991, and 1487 in January 1998

[Charles McAllister]

If the photos are accurate, my first impression was that this is a very dangerous ship.  The modifications seem to be all too clearly an attempt to extract extra revenue from an aging hull by enabling many more passengers than the original design.  Modern cruise ships have similar profiles but are designed from the keel up to be so, taking advantage of ultralight materials, machinery placement, etc.  This ship just looks unstable for any service, and even more dangerous as a ferry.

[bilgerat]

ccouldnt agree with you more Charctug. this is a dangerous practice all too common out here in the tropics. I took a superferry from Davao to Zamboanga a couple of years ago. we stood three decks down on teak planking looking at the marks where the lifeboat derricks used to be. three heavy passenger decks plus deck officer accomodation and wheelhouse above me. I found a plan of the ship and studied the best route out in case of emergency. guess what, there was a stairway (hidden) from our deck level straight up to the officers accom. now that would have been my wat out! to try to get through the passenger accom with its gangways blocke with peoples shopping (and limited escape routes at that would in the event of would have been impossible. We Did not sleep on that trip!! :-o

[Hawkeye]

Could the confussion over this began, when some web sites with the news, showed a picture of the old Viking Valiant / Venturer which were, as we know, Townsend Thoresen ships.

The Pride of Al Salam 95, which sank in October, 2005, was also ex Townsend Thoresen. She was built as the 'FE VI'

I also found out that a sister ship, Al Salam Petrarca 90, also sank of this port in June, 2002. This is on Fakta om Fartyg website, though in Swedish, the last entry, I think, has the Swedish word for sunk. Could anyone say if this is the correct translation. :lol:

[Hans Deijs]

2002 06 22.  Al Salam Petrarca 90
Translation: On a voyage from Duba to Safaga a fire boke out on the ship.  The ship went back to Duba were the passengers were evecuated, one person died, 10 wounded.  Afterwards the ship was towed to the roads, where it later sank.
Regards, Hans

[davideto]

This is a picture of former Boccaccio, when the ferry was owned by Tirrenia di Navigazione. At the time of the picture, the ship had not yet been transformed (and it was absolutely better looking!).

http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=130100&cid=9

Davide

[Hawkeye]

Many thanks for the translation, it's good to know that there were fewer deaths that time round.

Apart from being in Swedish, that site is excellent.

Regards
Karl :-)

[mooselet]

Much of the initial media confusion as to the identity of the ship may be due to Al Salam Boccaccio 98 not originally being listed under the link Ferries on the company website http://www.elsalammaritime.com

I see today that it now appears, ubder the sub-heading M/V Al Salam Poeti Vessels.

A "Statemant of clarification" has also appeared on the website home page, as well as some information on http://www.elsalammaritime.com/ennews.html. It is interesting to see how the ship has been deployed in recent years.

[davideto]

Here's a press release of Rina about the sinking of Al Salam Boccaccio 98. Rina is an Italian-based classification society and a member of IACS.

http://www.rina.org/UploadedFiles/Rina%20pr%2013.doc

Davide

[portagent]

The wreck of the AL-SALAM BOCCACCIO 98 was found abt. 90 km (abt 49 nm) off the Egyptian coast. It is reported that experts shall try to find the "black box" of the vessel in order to find out what really happened on Feb. 3rd.