The crew of the dry cargo ship, which burned off the coast of Sinop yesterday evening, told about the fearful moments. The casualty said, “When I came down the stairs, a person appeared before me, there was fire all over me, he was on fire.”
16 crew members were rescued alive in the ship fire that took place in Sinop yesterday evening. While the search for a missing person continues, 6 seriously injured people were transferred to Samsun and Ankara, and 10 injured people are being treated in Sinop. Noting that there was an explosion in the area where the heating system was located before the fire and then a fire broke out, the reserve captain of the ship, Elberrawi Ossama, told the fearful moments to the cameras.
“It was on fire”
Elberrawi Ossama, a reserve captain of Egyptian nationality, said that they determined that the first captain was missing. Ossama said, “I was steering the ship at the time. Me and the chief were together, a phone call came from downstairs, they informed us that there is smoke inside. The chief went down to look at the situation. A minute after the chief’s departure, there was the sound of an explosion, and the shouts began to ‘save us’. I let go of the helm, opened the door and went downstairs. When I came down the stairs, a person appeared before me, he was on fire all over. I don’t know who it was, it was always on fire. He climbed onto the ship and jumped into the sea. When we gathered our friends from below, we investigated, the captain was missing,” he said.
“Everyone was in panic, there were people on fire”
Egyptian national Herraz Emad said, “I was sleeping in another room when the explosion happened. In the room where I slept, the objects fell on me with the force of the explosion. It got dark because the electricity was cut off, I turned on my phone’s light and went out to see what was going on. When I reached my friends, everyone was in panic, there were people on fire. We gathered together with my friends who did not burn, and we started to look at the others. I have no knowledge of the captain’s condition, I did not see it. “We communicated with the Coast Guard, and we stood in the front until the ships arrived and picked us up,” he said.
Sharing the latest situation, Sinop Governor Erol Karaömeroğlu said, “Our tugboat and the burning ship met at 05:45, the fire was completely extinguished, and the cooling works continue. There is no danger of sinking with our ship, there is no danger of diesel leakage. In case it does happen, we are already prepared, we have taken all the precautions. The owners of the ship of the company are arriving at the scene today, as a result of their decision, we will either tow our ship to one of the nearest shipyards or to the port. At the moment, after the cooling works are completed, the experts of Samsun Port Authority will examine the ship and prepare their reports. All of them are in good health, and 10 of our injured are still intubated as they are exposed to heavy smoke.”
While it was reported that the last position of the ship was offshore in the Gerze-Yakakent range and continued to drift in a controlled manner accompanied by tugboats, the burning ship was viewed from the Coast Guard helicopter.
The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of News2Sea.
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