Harrowing details revealed of Kiribati ferry disaster that killed 95 people

WARNING: GRAPHIC. Passengers died slow, painful deaths over days in open water due to a ferry crash so harrowing it’s been claimed the report into it was buried.

This only known survivors from the ferry carrying more than 100 people that sank in the Pacific.

Crew members of an overloaded ferry which sank in the Pacific claiming 95 lives were drunk, leaving passengers to die slow deaths from starvation and hypothermia, a damning report has found.

The report gives the first official account of the loss of the ferry MV Butiraoi, which sank in January and is so harrowing, the Kiribati Government was accused of attempting to bury it.

It concerns the disappearance last year of a boat sailing between islands in Kiribati, a country located in the South Pacific north east of Samoa.

The ferry was travelling from Nonouti island bound for the capital Tarawa.

The report can only be viewed at President Taneti Maamau’s office or the national library in Tarawa, Radio New Zealand reported, adding that those who saw the document could not copy it or even take notes about its contents.

Despite the extraordinary restrictions, former president Ierimia Tabai said he had seen the report and could relay its main findings.

“There was one that the ship wasn’t seaworthy when it was allowed to sail,” he told the ABC.

Kiribati consists of thousands of islands that are linked by numerous ferries.

The doomed ferry, the MV Butiraoi, that sank off Kiribati killing 95 people. Picture: AFP.

The report details a string of failures that led to the sinking and also gives a glimpse of the horrors endured by victims, who were missing in the vast ocean for eight days before the alarm was raised.

“Most, if not all, victims died from hunger, dehydration and hypothermia,” it found.

“One died while giving birth in (these) most unhealthy and extreme conditions,” it said.

The deaths of 84 passengers and 11 crew was the worst maritime disaster ever in Kiribati, a collection of 33 atolls and reefs scattered over an area the size of the continental US.

There were only seven survivors, who were found in a small aluminium boat after 10 days adrift.

Images from New Zealand Defence Force in January 2018 of the only survivors of the ferry sinking. Picture: AFP.

Kiribati President Taneti Maamau, here speaking at the UN last month. The report can only be read in his office. Picture: Johannes EISELE / AFP.

Ferries are a transport lifeline for Kiribati’s 110,000 population but the report found the Butiraoi, a 17.4 metre (57 foot) catamaran, should never have set out on its fateful voyage.

One of its life rafts was “non-functioning”, its distress beacon was missing or broken, it was not licenced to carry passengers and it had run aground twice before the voyage, damaging the vessel’s structural integrity.

In addition, the ferry set off in rough seas without the crew notifying maritime authorities of its departure.

The report found widespread use of alcohol by the master and crew during working hours, “giving every drunken crew (member) the feeling of grandeur and power to make decisions alone”.

“It was obvious the master of the MV Butiraoi was reckless and inconsiderate of the ship, crew and passengers,” it said. The ship’s master did not survive.

The report found the catamaran began to fall apart 30 minutes into the journey and had split and sank after two hours.

It said there was no leadership from the crew, who had limited survival training.

It blamed the slow rescue response on a lack of information provided by the ship’s crew, recommending stricter maritime policing to ensure reporting procedures were properly followed.

It also called for a tighter inspection regime and better boat building standards.

Mr Tabai criticised the restrictions imposed on the report’s availability, saying the government appeared worried about the failings highlighted in the document.

“It’s not on. It’s nonsense. It’s just not the sort of thing that should happen in a democracy like this,” he said.

Maamau’s government faced criticism last year for obstructing Australian and New Zealand journalists wanting to travel to the remote Pacific nation to cover the disaster’s aftermath.