MS Moby Prince

The Moby Prince in the port of Bastia in August 1987

• Queen Juliana
• Holland Trade Ship
• Queen Juliana

IMO no. 6808806

The Moby Prince was an Italian ferry the Navarma Lines ( today's Moby Lines ). On April 10, 1991, she collided with a tanker and caught fire. In the disaster 140 people died.

The ferry was built in 1967/1968 under the hull number 1331 on the English shipyard Cammell Laird & Company, Birkenhead under the name of Queen Juliana. The keel-laying ceremony took place in April 1967, the launching on February 2 in 1968. The ferry was supported by the Dutch shipping company Stoomvaart Maatschappij Zeeland to 1984 on the connection Harwich - Hook of Holland used.

The establish what happened

To 22.23 clock of 10 April 1991 the Moby Prince collided two miles from the harbor entrance from Livorno with the lying there at anchor oil tanker Agip Abruzzo and caught fire. In the disaster 140 people died, only one sailor was rescued from the burning ferry. Not all came directly to through the fire; a large number of passengers came in home interior, in which they had taken refuge, by smoke inhalation killed.

In massive criticism came the organization of rescue operations. Thus, the very weak radio signal help the Moby Prince was apparently overheard by officers of the Port Authority of Livorno. In addition, the rescue teams were sent only to the Agip Abruzzo, whose captain assumed to be collided with a small barge. Only a few volunteers managed to reach the deck of the Moby Prince and to rescue a sailor. Although this reported by other survivors, no further institutions were made ​​to reach the burning ferry. When the rescue teams penetrated into the wreckage the next morning, they found only corpses before.

The cause of the accident remained unclear. Heavy fog, as first thought, was excluded by amateur footage as the cause.

The wreck was later scrapped in Turkey.