MV Rabaul Queen
The Rabaul Queen arriving in Kimbe 16 March, 2009
IMO No. 8351297
The Rabaul Queen was built in 1983 passenger ferry. They sailed under the flag of Papua New Guinea, was owned by the shipping company Orspac Salvage in Papua New Guinea ( PNG) and was operated under the brand Starships.
The ship was initially under Japanese flag in Japan and was sold in 1998 to Papua New Guinea. There it knew in New Guinea and Kimbe on the island of New Britain since 2001 regular weekly service between Lae.
Downfall
- 6.5180555555556147.98527777778Koordinaten: 6 ° 31 ' 5 " S, 147 ° 59' 7" E
On Thursday, February 2, 2012, capsized and sank the Rabaul Queen by around 6.00 clock local time in a storm in the Salomonensee about 9 miles north-northeast of Finschhafen, on the east coast of the island of New Guinea, on the drive from Kimbe to Lae, with several hundred passengers and 12 crew members on board. The exact number of passengers was not known on February 2, 2012. According to an announcement of the PNG Maritime Safety Authority the ship for up to 310 passengers was admitted. The shipping company stated that there were 350 passengers and 12 crew members on board before, but surviving passengers spoke of more than 500 people on board. According to passengers should be down before the accident one of the ship's machinery, so that the Rabaul Queen with significantly reduced maneuverability import into the dangerous strait in the storm. The water depth at the crash site is about one kilometer.
At the next bailout gradually 15 ships, according to initial reports could involve 247 people to Monday, February 6 involved, as well as three helicopters, a Lockheed P -3 Orion of the Royal Australian Air Force, two Dornier aircraft and a CareFlight Learjet. The PNG Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre created drift models for the search for survivors of the disaster.
Assumed number of deaths
On 10 February 2012 Radio New Zealand reported that the number of those rescued was now adjusted to a total of 237, and that, according to the requests of relatives, 321 people still missing. This would mean that 558 people were on board, although only 310 were admitted.