Recalling the MV Rabaul Queen tragedy

PNG reporter Evah Kuamin recalls the day he covered the disastrous MV Rabaul Queen ferry accident.

PNG ferry Rabaul Queen

PNG reporter Evah Kuamin recalls the day he covered the disastrous MV Rabaul Queen ferry accident.

I HAD been on the MV Rabaul Queen travelling from my home in Rabaul to Lae around the same time last year.

Had I been travelling on February 2 this year, I wouldn't be here today.

Word came from my editor about 7.30am on that ill-fated morning that the very same passenger ferry had capsized while making that very same journey.

The boat was carrying 360 or more passengers when it hit rough conditions in the Solomon Sea.

Three large waves were all it took for the ferry to capsize.

Those on board the crowded ship tried frantically to fill up the available emergency boats or try to swim to land.

A distress call from the vessel was picked up by the Australian Navy Ship who quickly launched a rescue effort alongside local authorities.

The boat was upturned for four hours, during which time the Navy ship rescued the passengers it was able to.

Elijah Tobata, a student at the University of Goroka, was aboard the ferry at the time.

“When the waves hit the ship, the first time, water already began building up in the decks and when it hit again the second time, that was when it tilted over and water began rushing in,” he said.

Mr Tobata said it took just minutes for the vessel to be totally submerged. Many people, mostly mothers and their children, were in the lower decks and couldn’t escape in time, he said.

Authorities saved 246 people from the stricken ship. More than 100 people are still missing.

The PNG government has committed eight million Kina towards the shipping tragedy with Prime Minister Peter O’Neil personally visiting survivors recovering in Lae.

He has also ordered an investigation into the disaster.

Many people in the New Guinea Islands Provinces travel on ships just like the MV Rabaul Queen to go into other provinces and the accident has called the safety of this mode of transport into serious doubt.

The Autonomous Bougainville Government President Mr John Momis has admitted the disaster was a “wake-up call”.

Mr Momis has promised his government will reassess its priorities in hope of preventing another catastrophe.