Kategorie: News
New details from involved holidaymakers
On 25 April 2023, the liveaboard boat M/Y Carlton Queen, built in 2022, capsized shortly after starting a liveaboard trip on its way from Abu Nuhas across the Strait of Gubal. Winds were blowing from the northwest at a speed of 30km/h.
At the time of the accident, 26 guests and 9 crew members were on board. Most of the safari guests were experienced diving instructors. All persons could be picked up by ships in the vicinity. The M/Y Carlton Queen sank as a result of the capsize.
We conducted an interview with the three German divers and fellow passengers - Zoe, Dominic and Maik. We discussed the situation in detail with our accident expert Jan-Philipp Lauer. Jan-Philipp had already carried out a situation description and brief analysis shortly after the accident. Take a look for yourselves. Some of the descriptions literally make your hair stand on end.
No rescue operations by crew or captain
Captain and crew abandoned the ship very quickly. Rescue operations were not carried out by the crew because they were no longer on the ship. During the hasty escape from the boat, the captain unfortunately forgot to take the drybag with all the passports and documents; it remained on board and sank with the ship .
Both life rafts did not release automatically. Due to the relatively fast capsizing of the Carlton Queen, one liferaft was then already buried 'under the ship' - the other one on the second side upside down in the water and could then be only activated manually by the vacationers. One zodiac was rendered unusable by the capsize, the second had one of two of the hoses leaking.
No distress call was made, because - as already mentioned - the captain left the ship in a hurry. Another safari ship in the vicinity, the VIP Shrouq, has noticed the accident and since they could not reach via radio contact directly headed to the accident site. This was great luck, as the crew and guests were able to help well afterwards.
There were rumors about a water ingress on board due to a leaking sea valve. This was not confirmed by the vacationers. There was no water ingress, but the Carlton Queen capsized 'just like that'. This is another indication of design-related problems as already pointed out in the first situation assessment and brief analysis.
The participants (not the crew!) counted the number of rescued persons - and noticed one missing person who was then rescued by the vacationers. Such hair-raising stories and other unbelievable details are addressed in the interview.
Take your time, the Taucher.Net Talk is about 80 minutes long, but here you will really learn everything about the accident.
Taucher.Net Talk / Interview
https://youtu.be/nUONBmC0yAg
Complete documents and equipment lost
One thing is clear: the divers lost everything they had with them. A replacement is questionable. Therefore, there is a clear appeal to support the team. The group has set up a Gofundme project, which you can find here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/3180vhrtko. Maybe one or the other equipment manufacturer has the possibility to do something here, the victims are in any case grateful for any help.
We will stay on the case - safety on liveaboard ships. It cannot be that glaring deficiencies lead to dangerous situations like this. We will keep you informed on this matter.