A miss to near

Report Text:

The incident happened on the very last day of my employment before signing-off. I was on board of the refrigerating vessel mv “AAA” as the Radio Officer. We were en-route from the Black Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean about 20 miles away from our destination.

The ferry – boat “####” approached us on our port side. Then, for about 10 minutes we were sailing in the same direction with the same speed (16knots). The ferry boat’s navigator then decided to increase the speed a bit, and then they crossed our bow very, very close to our vessel.

It is necessary to remember that there were almost 600 people on board the ferry; it was really criminal negligence.  It could have become another mv “ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV” which sank next to the port of Novorossiysk after being hit by the cargo vessel “PETR VASIOV” on Aug. 31, 1986.  More than 400 people died.

CHIRP Comment:

The reporter has sent CHIRP this report 12 years after the event.  Therefore it is not possible to follow it up.  Nevertheless, it is a breath-taking illustration of the risk involved in such an unnecessary an ill-considered manoeuvre.

It also offers the opportunity to highlight that CHIRP is pleased to receive photographs with reports.