World's Most Dangerous Shipwrecks: The Toxic Secrets of Sunken Giants — Free Documentary

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: The largest shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea lies just two nautical miles off the coast of Italy. The gigantic hull of an oil tanker is home to hundreds of species of fish and corals. The 1991 environmental catastrophe caused by the sinking of the MT Haven has become a miracle of nature. I heard a mayday from the captain of the Haven, captain Gregorakis, that said, "Mayday, mayday, I have a fire on board. It's a phrase that you don't expect and that you hope [00:00:50] Speaker 2: never to hear." The Haven is a wreck, I would say, that is open to anyone. It starts at minus 36 metres depth, so even recreational divers with a deep water licence can visit the first two floors of the supertanker. [00:01:09] Speaker 1: Diving on the Haven for the first time is an amazing sensation. I remember that I thought how small we are compared to this enormous ship that rests on the sea floor at 80 metres. Although I've seen many other wrecks, both of merchant ships and of warships, diving on the Haven is unique due to its huge dimensions. The bridge where the captain and crew watched the disaster unfold is an eerie reminder that this place was once a hub of activity. Divers explore the inside of the ship, which lies at 86 metres depth. The wreck of the Haven has become one of Europe's great underwater tourist attractions, for those who dare dive to those depths. This is Arenzano on the Ligurian coast in Italy. It is where a team of divers regularly takes visitors to the Mediterranean's largest wreck, the MT Haven, a ship that burned and sank just two nautical miles away. Diving on the Haven wreck is for deep water divers. The Tecnodive team is based in Arenzano, west of Genoa, a small picturesque port on the Mediterranean Sea. Andrea Bada is the owner of the diving centre and [00:03:20] Speaker 2: welcoming visitors from all over Europe. Oxygen is what allows us to survive underwater and needs to be loaded slowly because oxygen is a flammable gas and any scraping or any molecule of fat in the tubes or in the thread of the screws can cause the explosion even of part of the bottle. When you load up the helium, there is no problem because helium isn't a flammable gas and it's what allows us to dive deep because we take nitrogen out of the normal compressed air and replace it with helium. [00:04:18] Speaker 1: The technique used for diving to the depths of the Haven and beyond involves re-breatvers. Andrea Bada is a deep water diver and explorer. [00:04:39] Speaker 2: We've filled up the helium in the bottle and we're now going to add whatever air is missing. Which is made up of 21% oxygen, 78% of nitrogen, but since the pressure inside the bottle is already 200 bar, we are going to add 30 bar of air that will give us the minimum oxygen needed to survive underwater at depth. These are mixes of gases called Trimix. Trimix because it's made up of three gases, so a mix of air with nitrogen, oxygen and helium. [00:05:25] Speaker 1: Preparing for such a deep dive also requires careful psychological planning. Any problems that occur at those depths need to be solved underwater. [00:05:42] Speaker 3: The team has done a lot of psychological and mental work, increasing their performance through this work as well as improving their interpersonal relationship within the group and between the group and the outside world. The work I'm most proud of is that they work in perfect synergy, especially when there are these particularly difficult dives. [00:06:24] Speaker 1: The team makes its way to the port and loads up the dive gear. Today, Andrea is diving with Gabriele Paparo, who is a former Navy diver. He has dived on the wreck dozens of times. The haven is an enormous wreck and it's hard to say that one part of it is more beautiful than another. It is fantastic everywhere, both when you go into it and when you visit the outside. So anyone who is trained to dive to the hypoxic depths of 80 meters, it presents a fantastic propeller, the biggest ever seen on a wreck. So this by itself is worth seeing. And the same goes for the interior that not only allows you to explore it but even use a scooter in those spaces. Nicolas has driven all the way from Switzerland to dive on the haven. [00:07:40] Speaker 4: The first time you dive on this wreck you think it's impressive because it was a catastrophe. But in fact, life is everywhere. The first thing that impressed me, apart from its size, was that life is everywhere. The second thing that impressed me was the explosion because the size of the hull is very big. And when you see the hole left by the explosion, you see how big it must have been. And the massive proportions of the initial catastrophe. [00:08:05] Speaker 1: The MT Haven accident is one of the greatest environmental catastrophes ever to hit the Mediterranean Sea. The ship itself was built in the Spanish port of Cadiz in 1973 and at the time was a model for future oil tankers. The need to move huge amounts of oil from one side of the world to the other in the 1970s pushed the shipping industry to ever larger ships. Over time, this would be revealed as a losing strategy. Giancarlo Cerruti was a Genoa port pilot at the time of the catastrophe. His heroism was recognized by the state and other institutions. Above all, by the crew. The haven was 340 meters long. There are those that are 500 tons that are 50 meters longer and wider. But they haven't been built anymore because they find it difficult to get into ports because they are simply too big and they are too dangerous. The Torre Canyon that ended up on the Seven Stones dropped 120,000 tons of oil into the sea. If a ship like that ends up on the rocks, it causes disaster. A harbinger of what was to come was the wreck of Haven's sister ship, Amorco Cadiz, in 1978. That massive oil spill led to the permanent pollution of thousands of kilometers of French shoreline and the death of innumerable numbers of birds and fish. The ship was simply too big to be safe. The Iran-Iraq war provided further evidence that large oil tankers were a danger to the shorelines and fisheries of the world. While sailing by Kaag Island, the Haven was hit by an Exocet missile fired by an Iraqi warplane. The ship was saved, but the damage was extensive. At the time, the Haven was called the Amorco Milford Haven and was loading crewed at the island of Kaag. She was hit by an Exocet missile during the Iran-Iraq war. She caught fire. They managed to put out the fire and then she was towed to Singapore. In Singapore, they worked on the ship for a year and a half, but there are doubts that the work may not have been done right. There are doubts, doubts. The expert report said there were doubts, because the ship should have remained there for longer. And the Amorco Milford Haven became simply the Haven. On its first voyage, it had the Genoa accident. The impact that this event had on the safety of the ship has never been fully established. The Haven was on its first trip since coming out of repairs, operated by Trudos shipping of Cyprus, and had sailed all the way from the Persian Gulf to Italy. Due to the sheer size of the ship, it could not sail into port, but instead offloaded the fuel here, at a man-made floating island the Genoese called L'Isola Grande. Something went terribly wrong on that day. The ship had arrived at the floating island and discharged 80,000 tons of oil, but then sailed away to move oil from the bow tank to the central tank to be offloaded when the ship returned to the floating island. It is the 11th of April 1991. Operations aboard the Haven, transferring oil from the bow hold to hold number two, are proceeding normally. Suddenly, a series of loud explosions rips the air, and the second hold from the bow is on fire. What happened on the day of the explosion that ripped the ship apart and led to the loss of life of five sailors has never been fully ascertained. I took the microphone and asked which ship it was, and he says, "I am Haven," and he was out of Voltri, and he said, "Please, pilot, help, help, I have fire on board." So I immediately raised the alarm in the oil port, and I got the driver of the pilot boat, and 15 minutes later, we were under the Haven. [00:13:07] Speaker 4: Behind me is what the Genoese call "Isola Grande," that is, a floating buoy where, until recently, oil tankers, the super oil tankers that were so big as not to be able to dock in the port, sailed up to this buoy and used the pipe connected to the ship and transferred the crude oil. There are huge pipes that go from here to the pumping stations on the shore. This is where the Haven offloaded part of the crude it was carrying, and then sailed away to move the oil from one hole to the other, and that's when the accident happened. A big piece of the deck, with the valve that malfunctioned, is here, close by, 100 meters deep. [00:13:59] Speaker 1: When we arrived at the Haven, there was already a huge fire in the bow hold, small fires rising from the center of the ship, but the deck of the ship was still intact. I continued to talk to the ship's captain, and I advised him to launch the lifeboats to get the crew off, because even if we'd raised the alarm with the fire brigade and helicopters, the helicopters would never have been able to hover over the flames, because the fire was too big. [00:14:31] Speaker 4: The Haven accident was an exceptional accident as far as I was personally concerned, as I lived through it in real time. I remember I was returning from Savona by car, and I wasn't driving, a friend was driving. And as we were reaching Arenzano, he exclaimed, "Look at that oil tanker that's burning!" And I turned around to look towards the sea, and I saw these huge, extremely white flames rising skyward, and the first tugboats leaving the port of Voltri and going towards it. [00:15:07] Speaker 1: While I was speaking to the captain, the ship was shaken by an explosion, an enormous explosion. Pieces of sheeting fell on our pilot's boat, and the driver and I were lucky that they were small and only took some of the paint off the boat. We thought that the ship had broken into two sections, but in fact the ship was just bent, and from the crack, oil began flowing out, in flames, in flames, and it covered practically the whole ship. Luckily, not the end of the stern section from which the crew began jumping into the water, from the end of the stern section that was not yet involved in the fire. [00:15:54] Speaker 4: The Haven accident happened when I was at high school, and it was like a flashback. I was catapulted into my school books with the pictures of the Torrey Canyon, of the news reports on the Yamoko Cadiz, or the Exxon Valdez, that seemed so far off and so remote. So we were catapulted into the limelight of an ecological disaster that seemed to be in the end of the ship, of truly gigantic proportions. [00:16:30] Speaker 1: I heard nothing more from the captain. He was probably killed during the enormous explosion that broke the ship, not in two, but completely bent it. We went around the whole ship, and when we got to the stern of the ship, we saw the crew jumping off. We collected 18, covered in crude oil, and in shock. But three young men that were calling out, "Help! Pilot, help!" We got five meters away with the pilot boat. We saw them burn like three torches. We didn't manage to get any closer with the pilot boat, because we would have burned it. [00:17:14] Speaker ?: We saw them burn like three torches. [00:17:16] Speaker 1: Luca Parodi is a marine biologist and has watched the wreck change over the years. [00:17:28] Speaker 4: Luckily, the oil had burnt, and the fact that they'd already offloaded some of the crude oil, and an excellent response by the emergency services and so forth, significantly reduced the environmental impact of the Haven disaster on the Ligurian Sea. Genoa is like an amphitheater. We were all spectators of this tragedy that was unfolding in front of our eyes. [00:18:02] Speaker 1: There was a combination of circumstances, such as the relative humidity, temperature of the oil, air temperature, that thankfully led to the oil catching fire. And we have to say that it was lucky that the oil caught fire, because otherwise all these beaches… Well, if 200,000 tons of oil leak out and spread… we are not getting rid of it. Luckily, it caught fire. Because it caught fire, some men died, unfortunately. But the fact that it caught fire saved Liguria. The northerly wind and calm seas kept the smoke from reaching shore. Admiral Antonio Alati of the Coast Guard realized that there was a real danger of a major oil slick, and immediately surrounded the ship with oil booms, as fire tugs continued to push the oil back into the flames. Practically, the fire occupied the size of two or three football fields, because the crude oil that fell into the sea caught fire, luckily. But controlling it was almost impossible. And luckily, the tugs used their high-pressure hydrants as the oil expanded on the sea, pushed it back into the fire, using their hydrants, and so they managed to make a lot of it burn. [00:19:36] Speaker 5: As the wreck was being towed, it broke in two and sank. [00:19:48] Speaker 1: But at least the wreck was now in shallower waters, and the leaks of fuel could be monitored. [00:20:01] Speaker 4: So immediately afterwards, the Haven disaster turned into an inimaginable environmental disaster. I remember all these beaches covered with oil, with seagulls dying. All those things that you see on TV that you think can never happen to you. All of us older people lived through it. We thought we'd never be able to go to the sea again. Then in fact, luckily, a lot of it burnt, and a lot of it crystallized on the sea floor, so over the years, it hasn't left a lot of damage, except to fishing. [00:20:40] Speaker 2: I spoke to the mayor, who put containers of benzene and gasoline for the bathers, so that they could clean their bodies of patches of crude oil that got stuck on them as they came out of the sea. From an initial disaster that involved the death of fish, seagulls and other birds, from the death of all this fauna and animals that washed up on the shore, once this catastrophe passed, from one year to the next, it became a paradise. [00:21:34] Speaker 1: Environmentalists calculate that of the 230,000 tons of fuel aboard, 80,000 had been transferred to land, while between 30,000 and 40,000 spilled into the sea and partly burned, leaving 110,000 in the holds. The leaks were still extremely damaging to the pristine coastline of Liguria, one of the most beautiful stretches of coast of Europe, with the picturesque ports of Arensano and Portofino and the villages of the Cinque Terre. But being able to monitor the leaks meant that the environmental disaster was small, compared to, say, the Amoco-Cadiz catastrophe. [00:22:27] Speaker 4: I remember that I did some work for the National Research Center of Messina, who asked me to collect the crude oil because they wanted to analyze it for microbacteria. So several years after the ship sank, I dived to the bottom of the hold, and I remember that the oil was stratified, like a viennetta. I went down with a friend and we brought up four bags of it, and it was like the chocolate of a viennetta ice cream. And I think it's still there. It's at the bottom, crystallized, and doesn't do any harm to anyone. It's as though it were in a closed jar. [00:23:08] Speaker 1: The investigation reached no firm conclusion about who was responsible, and no one was found guilty of negligence. The Troodos family of Cyprus who operated the ship was accused of making savings on repairs after the Exocet attack, but no evidence was brought to support the claims. The Haven had already offloaded 140,000 tons of product, but to be able to sail off again, they had to redistribute the crude oil into the different tanks, and that's when the mistake was made. The inquiry says that tank number one was put under pressure, and this pressure was not relieved, and this pressure broke down the bulwark between number one and number two, that was full of oxygen. As it fell, the bulwark made sparks and the fire broke out. Lorenzo Veneziano was one of the first to dive on the wreck and see for himself. [00:24:20] Speaker 4: There have been several inquests into the Haven accident, and although no certain cause has been found, the most probable cause is that when crude oil was being transferred from one tank to another, a valve that was used to decompress, to remove gas from inside the tanks, failed. So the compression caused by moving the oil from one tank to the next put the gas in the tank under pressure, but couldn't be released, that acted like a diesel combustion engine and exploded. [00:25:01] Speaker 1: The Italian state eventually paid for the cleanup and the Trudos family continued their entrepreneurial careers, eventually buying the British airline EasyJet. However, over the years, the sunken ship took on a new life at the bottom of the sea. [00:25:29] Speaker 2: It is one of the most sought-after wrecks in the world, certainly for its size, but above all, for its biodiversity, for everything that's around it. Over the years, all these encrustations and the microorganisms that grew on it turned it into an ideal habitat for several hundred species of fish and brought to the wreck shoals of anchovies and shoals of snappers, black and common sea breams, and something that can be seen in very few places in the world, that is, the passage of tuna. [00:26:20] Speaker 1: Madalena Fava is a marine ecologist who has documented the evolution of changing marine life around the wreck over the years. [00:26:36] Speaker 3: So the ship was cleaned up. During the disaster, the oil was allowed to burn, so that a part of the oil was dispersed into the atmosphere. The heavier part of the oil that remained in the ship was removed by humans over several years. But nature gave its contribution too, as certain natural bacteria exist in the sand that are able to break down crude oil into its component parts. So being able to feed off it, we're able to break it down and contribute to the clean-up. [00:27:28] Speaker 2: Tuna fish of between 30 and 150 to 170 kilos come onto the wreck to feed off the anchovies. This, unfortunately, is wonderful, but extremely difficult to see. That is, tuna fish diving from between 6 and 8 meters to 30 meters in a few seconds, chasing the anchovies and trying to hunt them. It has become an aquarium. Divers come here not only to see the wreck, but to enjoy the clouds of fish that surround the wreck. [00:28:24] Speaker 6: The base of the food pyramid is the seaweed. [00:28:32] Speaker 3: They are the first to grow, but the process of growth of the haven ecosystem started with bacteria that grew on and began degrading the oil, and then slowly fish that live in hollows or crustaceans, lobsters or mollusks, who need protection in a place where otherwise there would be no protection because the ship sank onto a mudflat, but close to the shore, so offered a new place where they could hide. And then the seaweed and simple organisms are followed by small fish, then bigger fish hunting the smaller fish and so on. [00:29:15] Speaker 6: The wreck of the empty haven lies some two nautical miles off the Ligurian coast, [00:29:28] Speaker 1: at a depth of over 80 meters. The ship is so tall that from the funnel to the propeller is 50 meters in depth. [00:29:49] Speaker 4: It's the kind of ship that luckily no longer sails in our seas because not even one has survived. The Exxon Valdez, the Erika, were all ships this size, so too big, built in a hurry. They all had problems and all caused incredible disasters. [00:30:19] Speaker 1: For the intrepid diver, the ship is one of the most popular wrecks in the crystal clear waters of Italy. Andrea and Gabriele, accompanied by a boatman, go out to the dive site. The divers have arrived at the dive site. They prepare their equipment. It weighs some 40 kilos. And there is time for one last check. The weather is fine, but there are still dangers. Lorenzo Veneziano taught Bada everything he knows about diving and is acutely aware of the risks. [00:31:21] Speaker 4: The haven, if you follow the rules, is a dive that anyone can do. It's relatively simple. Let's remember that we're in the middle of the sea, a difficult sea. And it doesn't take much to turn an easy dive into a difficult dive. Anything can happen. I'll tell you a story. It was autumn and the sea was flat. And I loaded the clients up in the port of Arenzano in my boat. I went down into the water and as I came up, a terrible storm had blown in. Waves two meters high, so bad was it, that I couldn't get to the port of Arenzano. I had to take the clients to Genoa. This happened within 20 minutes or half an hour. So not only the divers, but also the boatmen and the dive center owner have to be up to it. [00:32:18] Speaker 1: The dive is dark and Bada turns on the lights and then the ghostly ship appears in front of them. The Shia's size is amazing and the divers have 20 minutes to explore her before their oxygen runs out. It is the world's largest tanker, a giant from a bygone age. [00:32:54] Speaker 2: The haven is a wreck, just to get some dimensions, that rises from a depth of 80 meters to a depth of 36 meters. So its huge size can be compared to a block of flats, a big block of flats, even a small skyscraper. The accommodation block that stands at the stern of the ship starts at 50 meters depth and reaches 36 meters and is a five-story building, so five stories and the captain's quarters. A building of almost six stories standing on a ship. And below it we go from 50 to 80 meters below the surface, so another 30 meters. The wreck is 270 meters long. So practically two and a half soccer fields in length. And 50 meters wide, so as wide as half a soccer field. [00:34:09] Speaker 1: It was able to carry a massive 233,000 tons of crude oil at the time and was manned by a crew of 44. The engine room is massive and hosts a single diesel engine. The team makes its way outside and examines the ship's propeller. This truly is a giant of the seas. [00:34:44] Speaker 2: The engine room alone, where the engine is located, is the size of a house, because the engine was not inserted afterwards, but the ship was built around it. [00:34:55] Speaker 7: Everything that is inside it is gigantic. [00:35:04] Speaker 2: Everything and anything that you film and you explore is huge. The spare piston rods are as tall as two men. [00:35:23] Speaker 4: The haven wreck luckily lies level and goes from about 40 meters below sea level down to about 76-78 meters. It's split in two with the bow section broken off, but the stern section is perfectly preserved and beautiful. As you dive down along the drop lines, you reach the funnel, which is the safest part. And from there, you descend down the decks, that are all well-preserved, down to 50 meters to the main deck. The propeller is about 78 meters down. You can also go inside the haven. This is a whole different issue because, as with any dive inside a wreck, even if she is huge, there are dangers. [00:36:17] Speaker 1: At this depth, the natural flora and fauna of the Mediterranean have been able to colonize the wreck as though it were a massive coral reef. Life abounds around what was once a bringer of death and destruction. [00:36:38] Speaker 2: From the accommodation block, you can get to the engine room in two ways. One way is more difficult, as it is inside the wreck, so descending from the fifth deck and the kitchens, not down the stairs, as they have partially collapsed, but via the corridors through a door that leads into the engine room. This approach can be done by divers who have a license for the exploration of caves and grottos. People who are capable of using guidelines and can work in narrow and difficult spaces. [00:37:19] Speaker 1: The ship was powered by a single-screwed diesel engine that turned a massive propeller, which could push the ship to a speed of 15 knots. [00:37:42] Speaker 2: The enormous engine is visible inside the engine room. You can go down to 60 meters, where you can see the rocker arms, where the pump and injectors were. And this is divided into three floors. The first, where the piston heads and valves are. The second floor, where the central part of the engine is. And the third floor, that you reach through a hatch, where the pistons and the connecting rods are. [00:38:19] Speaker 1: The pumping station is where the accident started, with a defective extraction valve that allowed gases to accumulate and eventually ignite. It is the heart of the empty haven story, and holds the key to the sequence of events that killed four people. Today, the empty haven is an underwater paradise. There are dangers here too, for divers and for the fauna. Fishing nets still cover the wreck and threaten those swimming around them. They are nylon nets and don't rot easily. [00:39:09] Speaker 4: Like all wrecks, the haven has what we call its clothes. When we say that a wreck is dressed, it's when it's covered in nets. The nets aren't a danger for the diver, rather they're a danger for the environment. They are a danger because they are no longer made of natural material, as they were once many years ago, [00:39:35] Speaker 8: but they're made of synthetic materials, that have a very low level of biodegradability. [00:39:50] Speaker 4: And they will continue to disturb and capture fish, for no reason, for a long time to come. [00:40:03] Speaker 1: The 20 minutes exploring the wreck have come to an end. It is time to resurface, but this is a slow process. Andrea Bada has risked his life before, during this particularly dangerous part of the day. Rising to the surface too quickly can cause what divers know as "the bends", nitrogen bubbles that block the arteries, an often fatal condition. Decompression times are proportional to the depth of the dive. The deeper you go, the longer it will take to come back up. The dive on the haven takes you down to significant depths. And of course, when you dive to those depths, to 30, 50, or even 80 meters, the diver has to come up following certain rules, at a certain speed, but not only, depending on the depths you reach. And on a wreck like this, it is easy to spend several minutes, tens of minutes, exploring the carcass of the wreck. So, due to the length of time you spend on the wreck, you have to spend a long time in decompression. Decompression is the technique that involves stopping at precise depths, from 30 meters below every 3 meters, so a slow resurfacing that takes half an hour or 40 minutes of decompression. This, obviously for safety reasons, and to complete the dive profile as required. The day is drawing to an end. The team resurfaced and passed the heavy bottles to the boatman before climbing back into the boat. It has been a successful team operation in which no one was hurt or lost their can. [00:42:21] Speaker 3: As we all know, the sports psychologist's job is to improve the performance. And performance is improved above all through management of the emotions and of relationships whenever you're in a team. The best result, which is the result we've obtained with the Tech Dive team, is to work in perfect synergy, as though the team acted as though it were a single individual. [00:42:59] Speaker 1: The team is returning to port, full of wonder, adrenaline, and a sense of accomplishment, from completing a successful dive to an enormous wreck, an underwater island of rusting steel, that teems with life like never before. Now, literally, a haven for both the curious diver and thousands of creatures of the deep. [00:43:29] Speaker ?: As we all know, we're going to be in an ocean, we're going to have to be in the ocean. [00:43:37] Speaker 1: What is left of the rear section of the general cargo ship, Wakashio, is still lodged on the reef off the tropical island of Mauritius. Salvage operations began in February 2021, but have been abandoned due to bad weather. The wreck of this Japanese cargo ship will be remembered for decades as one of the greatest catastrophes ever to strike the small island nation. A disaster made worse by poor management by the authorities. [00:44:13] Speaker 9: On the 6th of August, the worst happened. Oil was poured into our lagoon, heavy fuel oil, and it spread all over the coastline, onto the beach, onto the waterfront, all the way up north to a place called Rivier des Créoles. [00:44:38] Speaker 10: We tend to say that the ocean, the sea, is in our DNA as Mauritians. Because when we were on the waterfront, there were a lot of people that came and poured tears when they saw the oil that were into the sea. And that somehow translates the deep relationship that we Mauritians, we have with our sea. [00:45:04] Speaker 11: There are strict laws, you know, which regulate oil spillage. And Mauritius was supposed to ratify the convention in 2016, protecting all the states against oil spillage, but Mauritius did not. Had Mauritius done that in 2016, we could have claimed a minimum of 60 million US dollars. [00:45:28] Speaker 1: Not only did the Wakashio wreck lead to a devastating oil spill in one of the island's natural reserves, but it also set in motion a protest movement that rocked the nation. This is the story of the Wakashio disaster. [00:45:52] Speaker ?: Mauritius. [00:46:08] Speaker 1: This is Mauritius, one of the world's island paradises. With its central volcano and fertile plains, for centuries it produced sugar and textiles for the world. With a population of just 1.3 million, it is known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, as it sits astride the roots from Africa to the Orient. The MV Wakashio, operated by Mitsui OSK and owned by the Okyo Maritime Corporation, left Singapore on the 17th of July 2020. The 300-meter-long ship was on its way to Brazil. Its original plan was to sail north of the island, but the captain decided instead to head south. Eight days later, just as the sun was setting over Mauritius, the huge cargo ship crashed into the reef of Blue Bay. [00:47:10] Speaker 11: Well, everybody said that there was a birthday on that ship, and according to information I've got from some confirmed sources, effectively there was one birthday celebrated aboard, on board the ship. I think it was the birthday of one of the engineers, third or fourth engineer. [00:47:30] Speaker 1: By early morning, activist and freelance reporter Ruben Pillay was on the site. [00:47:37] Speaker 9: Very early the next day, on Sunday morning, I was there before sunrise. I sent out the drone, and I managed to have a good look at the ship. There was no damage to it. At that point, no one could imagine that it would become such an ecological catastrophe afterwards, because the ship appeared to be in good condition. It was not broken. It was just lying there on the reefs, surrounded by water and waves crashing up against it. It was actually a beautiful sight to behold. [00:48:13] Speaker 1: The ship had literally rammed up on the reef, but the heavy swell was to dislodge it and move it again. What happened remains the subject of speculation. Was there a party on board that distracted the crew? Or are there other reasons why the ship might have sailed so close to shore? Alain Malherbe is a career captain and directed his own shipping company until retirement. [00:48:41] Speaker 11: When you look at the actual track of the Waukesha coming towards Mauritius, you can see that effectively the vessel was closing by the coast. But it is common practice for vessels, especially when you have crew which have remained on board for unexpected contract time, to close by the shore of any country they are sailing within the vicinity, to try to have a telecommunication, a telephone network, to catch a telephone network. Because all these crew, they have mobile phones with roaming facilities. So getting in touch with the shore telecom service, it's easy for them to send quickly a small message to their relatives, just to tell them that they are okay or to have some quick news. [00:49:37] Speaker 1: The next day, the ship was on the rocks and the Mauritian Coast Guard began evacuating the crew. The island nation was in the throes of the Covid pandemic lockdown. In a series of inexplicably sluggish reactions, the government sent the first Coast Guard on the 29th, four days later, to examine the state of the ship. On the far side of the world, a phone call to Smid Salvage, one of the foremost salvage companies in the world, activated a couple of tugboats that arrived on the 31st of July, six days after the crash. [00:50:20] Speaker 10: On the 25th of July, when the wakashu wrecked itself, there should have been booms placed all around the vessel, so that in any case of oil spillage, potential oil spillage, at least it will be contained only around the wakashu. But obviously, this has not been done. It was not about following protocols. It was about working towards the best interest of the country. And the best interest of the country at that very moment was to have a contingency plan to prevent any oil spillage. This was not being done. I think that this was not in the mindset of the one in power. [00:51:00] Speaker 11: Well, the first error which I said, the first error they made, they did not put the boomer on the ship. That was the first mistake. And the second mistake was, well, this is not really the responsibility of the Coast Guard or the Ministry of Environment. It is that the salvage, they filled up the ship at the hatch number nine with water, which increased the pressure on the stern part of the ship and which made that crack. [00:51:35] Speaker 9: On the 5th of August, pictures started emerging on the internet, showing that the ship had started to sink, that the waterline was very close to the topmost part of the stern, giving the impression that the the rear part of the ship had started sinking a bit. And the Minister of Fisheries came and said that the pictures had been manipulated, that they were fake, and that the situation was under control. [00:52:18] Speaker 1: The constant rolling of the waves and twisting of the hull began ripping open a crack along the deck and then down the hull itself. In these still images taken on the 6th of August, 12 days after the grounding, we see the crack in the hull from which the first oil slicks are beginning to leak. [00:52:44] Speaker 10: We were kind of following what was happening in Maibo and Buen Desni from the 25th of July itself, when the wakasho wrecked on the reef there. And we had the news, I would say, mostly around the, probably the 4th of August 2020, that the possibility of an oil spillage was imminent. And on the 6th, when unfortunately this happened during the day, so we concerted different comrades from our political party. And at some point, David Sauvage, one of the members of our committee, of the party, he came up with the idea of the booms confection. So he said that we needed to act now, at the very moment, because we felt that the government was not acting in the best interest of the ecosystem there, in the best interest of the people, in the best interest of the country itself, for some reason. [00:53:59] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: Now, we need to understand the situation at that time, of the people living there. Our nation is largely dependent on tourism to survive. The people living in the coastal region, they are fishermen, they live from tourism. If they are not fishermen, they are boat operators, they are two operators, they work in the tourism sector. The people of Mauritius rallied to the call [00:54:27] Speaker 1: to save their beaches and put extraordinary inventiveness into action. [00:54:31] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: Irrespective of our religion, irrespective of our faiths, irrespective of our color of skin, irrespective of the job that we do, of our positions, everybody all around the island came together and worked together. And we started to make booms. David Sauvage: It was an initiative of a political party called "Resistance et Alternative", which means resistance and alternative. And they had the idea of making a boom to stop the progression of oil [00:55:13] Speaker 10: with oil leaks on the surface of the water. David Sauvage: The booms were made out of sugarcane straw, which is widely available here in Mauritius. And it was made also of green nets that we use on construction sites, which is widely available here in Mauritius as well. And the net was stuffed with those sugarcane straws and also with empty plastic bottles that were used as floaters. [00:55:49] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: So the entire Mauritian nation came together and in several places, everywhere there were sugarcane fields, people were picking up the dried leaves and people were starting to make booms. And trucks were used to take the booms from those locations David Sauvage: All the way down to the southeastern coast. And people were installing it on the side, on the coast, along the entire coastline. And other volunteers got into suits and went down right into that oil and started scraping the oil out and putting them into into drums. And we were working together. [00:56:33] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: Hundreds and hundreds of meters of this natural protective and low-cost material were [00:56:42] Speaker 10: deployed up and down the lagoon. David Sauvage: We started the first boom confection on the Maibo waterfront. It was around midnight and we ended. It was, I would say, maybe 3:30 in David Sauvage: In the morning of the 7th of August 2020. And we tested the first prototype. It was around 4:00 a.m. David Sauvage: And three comrades from Maibo that joined us in this journey. So they entered the cold water David Sauvage: At 4:00 a.m. And we placed the first boom. And surprisingly, it worked. It worked very well David Sauvage: In the sense that, well, the first thing, it floated. The second thing, it also contained the oil that was in the water. David Sauvage: And the third thing that we saw, it also kind of attracted, retained the oil that came in. [00:57:38] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: However, anger was growing in the local population. [00:57:42] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: The government, that did nothing to prevent this in the first place, David Sauvage: They didn't see things the same way as we did. David Sauvage: And they started calling us "insignifiant" in our local language. David Sauvage: This means insignificant. David Sauvage: And people started getting very angry at the way that the government handled this David Sauvage: situation. Because for 12 days, they had, they did not do anything. [00:58:18] Speaker 10: David Sauvage: What we organized was not only, we organized from the waterfront, David Sauvage: But the booms were placed at different places. And the interesting things is David Sauvage: We work with people, drones operators like you, David Sauvage: And who helped us to map the different sea currents. David Sauvage: So that we are more efficient in the placement of the booms. [00:58:45] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The police intervened. David Sauvage: And the environment minister defined the protesting locals as a nuisance. David Sauvage: Little did they know that the coast guard David Sauvage: Had professional equipment lying in a warehouse in Port Louis, David Sauvage: The capital city, on the other side of the island. David Sauvage: As the local population mobilized, David Sauvage: Tensions with the government grew, and the police became increasingly repressive. David Sauvage: The environmental catastrophe was made worse by the location of the wreck. David Sauvage: Here, just off Pointe Desnée, is a unique nature reserve, David Sauvage: famed the world over for its marine flora and fauna. David Sauvage: The location of the grounding is close to two internationally protected sites. David Sauvage: One for wetlands, especially mangrove forests, David Sauvage: And a small coral atoll that had been set aside from human interference David Sauvage: For the recovery of endemic species of Mauritius' rich and rare biodiversity. David Sauvage: These images from the Sentinel-2 satellite David Sauvage: Show the different consistencies of the oil, David Sauvage: From very thick in blue to light in yellow. David Sauvage: The oil tested showed it was very low sulfur fuel oil. [01:00:13] Speaker 11: David Sauvage: So IMO, International Maritime Organization, David Sauvage: With all the petrol suppliers. David Sauvage: I think it was back in 2000, I think. David Sauvage: They started to work on a new product. David Sauvage: And then they agreed on the product, David Sauvage: which was manufactured, a special product called the VSLO. David Sauvage: Very, very low sulfur fuel oil. David Sauvage: What happened effectively with the Wakashio, David Sauvage: When she loaded that product in Singapore, David Sauvage: The master, the master one, David Sauvage: which is the current language, David Sauvage: The captain of the ship was informed David Sauvage: that there could be some risk David Sauvage: of the engine running out of control David Sauvage: or even risk of explosion in the main engine. [01:01:01] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The fuel loaded aboard the Wakashio David Sauvage: seems to have played a key role in the ship's engines David Sauvage: stopping just at the wrong moment. [01:01:11] Speaker 11: David Sauvage: When the Wakashio left the Malacca Strait David Sauvage: and turned into a southerly direction David Sauvage: on the on the route to go to Brazil, David Sauvage: that was the initial route of Wakashio. David Sauvage: On the 17th of July, David Sauvage: the Wakashio added first engine failure. David Sauvage: In the meantime, the product was being David Sauvage: analyzed both by the suppliers David Sauvage: and by the owners of the ship. David Sauvage: And when the owners received David Sauvage: the actual result David Sauvage: coming from the laboratory, David Sauvage: saying that effectively David Sauvage: the product was of a very, very, very bad quality David Sauvage: that was on the 23rd of July. David Sauvage: So he sent a mail to the ship David Sauvage: informing the master to double up precaution, David Sauvage: to double up surveillance on the main engine, David Sauvage: because that product was very, very bad. David Sauvage: And the ship herself and the crew, David Sauvage: of course, were in danger, David Sauvage: because anything could happen. [01:02:14] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The course of the Wakashio David Sauvage: from the time it left the Malacca Straits David Sauvage: headed towards Brazil was unusual. David Sauvage: Sailing further southwards, David Sauvage: the ship made a turn to the right David Sauvage: just as the master received news David Sauvage: of the poor quality of the fuel it was burning. [01:02:33] Speaker 11: David Sauvage: The captain of the ship said that David Sauvage: he called the coast guard David Sauvage: and he called the port David Sauvage: controlling Mauritius for assistance, David Sauvage: that he got no reply. David Sauvage: And as from that moment, David Sauvage: the engines were not running anymore, David Sauvage: except the generators, David Sauvage: which were producing electricity, David Sauvage: but the main engine driving the vessel David Sauvage: was completely out of order. [01:02:58] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The new course headed straight David Sauvage: towards the Mauritius town of Maibour, David Sauvage: but no one seemed to notice. [01:03:05] Speaker 11: David Sauvage: The station at Pointe du Diab, David Sauvage: I think we're talking of station at Pointe du Diab, David Sauvage: they are all equipped with a radar, David Sauvage: the conventional radar, and then David Sauvage: and with the AIS as well. David Sauvage: So if he sees a dot on the radar David Sauvage: which he cannot guess what it is, David Sauvage: if he looks at his screen of AIS, David Sauvage: he will immediately see David Sauvage: which ship it is, David Sauvage: what direction of the ship, David Sauvage: what's the speed of the ship, David Sauvage: and where the ship is exactly, David Sauvage: longitude, latitude, David Sauvage: and the distance from the shore. [01:03:37] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: Had the course not been changed again, David Sauvage: just two hours before the crash, David Sauvage: the disaster would have been much worse, David Sauvage: with the ship breaking through the narrow reef. [01:03:50] Speaker 11: David Sauvage: Having been again in that industry David Sauvage: for quite a long time, David Sauvage: I've been sailing quite a long time on ships, David Sauvage: on very long, long sea passages. David Sauvage: I do not know, I do not, David Sauvage: I have never come across any ship's captain or ship's crew David Sauvage: putting down their VHF radio while sailing, David Sauvage: because we must keep in mind that a VHF radio David Sauvage: is also a safety equipment which can save a life. David Sauvage: So no, no mariner will sail with a VHF radio David Sauvage: with the volume down, as the police said, David Sauvage: or with the VHF radio off. David Sauvage: This is impossible. [01:04:39] Speaker 1: Why the Wakashio crashed into the reef of southeastern Mauritius David Sauvage: is not the only mystery surrounding this wreck. [01:04:47] Speaker 11: David Sauvage: Having been in that industry for 43 years, David Sauvage: I can imagine that the captain thinking that David Sauvage: better to run the ship aground David Sauvage: if any problem arises, David Sauvage: instead of going David Sauvage: going along the initial track towards Brazil David Sauvage: and have an engine failure David Sauvage: in the middle of the ocean David Sauvage: where there would be no recourse to save them. David Sauvage: So this, to my point of view, is one of the main reasons David Sauvage: why the Wakashio came closer to Mauritius. David Sauvage: When we saw that the engine went down to zero rpm, David Sauvage: you know very well that during July we have heavy swells David Sauvage: and very strong winds coming from the south-southeast. David Sauvage: So that current and that wind has been pushing up the vessel towards the reef. David Sauvage: So it is not an intentional grounding. [01:05:49] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The incredible inefficiency of the Mauritian authorities David Sauvage: is inexplicable. David Sauvage: Experts were flown in from France and Japan, David Sauvage: despite the whole island being quarantined, David Sauvage: to attempt to save the situation from getting worse. David Sauvage: By the 10th of August, David Sauvage: the crack looked like this. David Sauvage: And the Coast Guard helicopters David Sauvage: were desperately trying to remove the fuel David Sauvage: before yet more spilled into the lagoon. [01:06:20] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: People were at a loss we didn't understand why David Sauvage: there was this ship there and David Sauvage: at the same time was revealed to us David Sauvage: by a member of the parliament. David Sauvage: He was in the opposition party David Sauvage: and he published pictures David Sauvage: of oil handling equipment David Sauvage: that we had in the port area. David Sauvage: So Mauritius had all this equipment David Sauvage: and David Sauvage: we were supposed to have people trained to use that equipment. David Sauvage: This was supposed to be contingencies David Sauvage: in case such an incident an oil spill would happen David Sauvage: in the port area. David Sauvage: But they did nothing. David Sauvage: The first thing that ought to have been done David Sauvage: was okay, we've got a ship that crashed there. David Sauvage: We go out and we install booms all around the ship. David Sauvage: So if there is any oil spill, David Sauvage: it is contained right then and there David Sauvage: before it reaches the coast. David Sauvage: But they didn't do that. David Sauvage: Why? David Sauvage: Beat me. David Sauvage: Nobody can explain. David Sauvage: The government cannot explain why they didn't do anything. [01:07:51] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The wreck had settled on the reef David Sauvage: and interrupted the natural currents in the lagoon, David Sauvage: creating an enormous David Sauvage: sandbank that people approaching the ship could stand on. David Sauvage: The wreck now interfered with the geology of the lagoon too. David Sauvage: By the 15th of August, just three weeks after the crash, David Sauvage: the 250 meter long bow section of the ship had broken off completely. David Sauvage: The Sauvage said they now had no option but to sink it offshore. David Sauvage: The government announced that it would be scuttled out to the southeast of the island. David Sauvage: But before this could happen, it had to be sanitized. David Sauvage: The credibility of the government was sinking too. David Sauvage: But rather than engage with the people, David Sauvage: a climate of fear began growing after acts of repression. [01:08:51] Speaker 11: David Sauvage: The scrap value of the ship was around approximately 400 tons, David Sauvage: 400 US dollars per tonne. David Sauvage: So if you try to work on a rough estimate of that ship, David Sauvage: if they say that there is 7,000 tons left when she cracked, David Sauvage: when the bow was sank, David Sauvage: so that ship was, I think, 30,000 tons. David Sauvage: So 23,000 tons were sank for nothing. David Sauvage: Now if you multiply 23,000 tons by 400 US dollars per tonne, David Sauvage: that would have been a very good revenue for the country. [01:09:43] Speaker 1: Amid protests by local environmentalists and in utmost secrecy, David Sauvage: the bow section of the ship was towed out to sea on the 24th of August. David Sauvage: In the amazing satellite analysis made by the AI company Windward, David Sauvage: we see how the Sauvage changed their mind David Sauvage: as to where the bow section should be sunk. David Sauvage: The two smit ships, the Borka Expedition and Borka Summit, David Sauvage: as well as the Indian Navy ship INS Neerikshak, David Sauvage: at first towed the carcass southeastwards, David Sauvage: as these satellite photographs show. David Sauvage: Ruben Pillay followed in a private boat in high seas, David Sauvage: risking life and them. [01:10:31] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: We went out to the heavy seas several kilometers out of the island. David Sauvage: It was pretty scary and David Sauvage: it was very heavy waves and the boat was going up and down. David Sauvage: We were dumping off the crest of waves down to three meters David Sauvage: and we managed to see David Sauvage: the actual bow of the ship being towed David Sauvage: to the place where they've been wanting to David Sauvage: scuttle it. [01:11:18] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The ship was eventually sunk northeast of Mauritius. David Sauvage: According to the Sauvage, no explosives were used David Sauvage: and the bow section sank when it was filled with water. [01:11:30] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: At the end of the day, it proved very difficult for them to David Sauvage: sink that ship. They were using fire hydrants on the tugboats to throw water into David Sauvage: the empty ship. David Sauvage: And they filled it with water, hoping that it would sink under the weight. David Sauvage: But for several days, it would, it just wouldn't sink. David Sauvage: So at some point we're questioning, David Sauvage: there is a question as to whether they used explosives or not David Sauvage: to pierce a hole at the bottom of the ship so that it would sink. David Sauvage: But we have no information on that. [01:12:27] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: In the following days, David Sauvage: Mauritians woke up to the tragic sight of dead and dying dolphins David Sauvage: and melon-headed whales on their pristine beaches. [01:12:37] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: On the 25th of August, David Sauvage: Our worst fears materialized because David Sauvage: melon-headed whales, David Sauvage: which are a small species of whales that closely resemble dolphins, David Sauvage: started washing up on the shores of Mauritius. [01:13:06] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The Coast Guard and local authorities David Sauvage: now tried to cover up the full extent of the catastrophe David Sauvage: by hiding the remains of the dolphins and whales. David Sauvage: But the activists scoured the coastline for the cetaceans David Sauvage: and filmed these terrible scenes. [01:13:23] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: The fishermen had been told for several hours David Sauvage: to use a machine, a bobcat, David Sauvage: to lift up the dolphins and put them in the truck David Sauvage: so that the truck can go and David Sauvage: traces of the dolphins would have disappeared. David Sauvage: But they didn't want that from happening. David Sauvage: They asked me to come there and they said, David Sauvage: come and film, show the world what is going on in our village. David Sauvage: Show them what this government is doing. David Sauvage: And this is what I did. David Sauvage: I started filming and it was then, David Sauvage: after filming, that they agreed to lift up David Sauvage: the dolphins and put them on the truck. David Sauvage: And I filmed the process. David Sauvage: But even as I was doing so, David Sauvage: a policeman came and told me and asked him if I was of the press. David Sauvage: I said no. David Sauvage: And then he showed me the way out and he said, David Sauvage: I'm not allowed to film here. [01:14:16] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The natural disaster David Sauvage: had now spread to the deep Indian Ocean. David Sauvage: What had happened to cause these marine mammal deaths? David Sauvage: Reuben Pillay decided to find out. [01:14:30] Speaker 9: Reuben Pillay: And then later that day we took a boat and we went David Sauvage: into the sea near the near the near the reefs David Sauvage: where we had heard the Coast Guard were trying to push the dolphins, David Sauvage: the melon-headed whales away from the coast. David Sauvage: And we saw a pod of whales, melon-headed whales. David Sauvage: They are small whales. David Sauvage: Whales. David Sauvage: Maybe 200 of them. David Sauvage: All of them behaving very erratically. David Sauvage: We saw a baby dolphin dead in the water. David Sauvage: We met another team of fishermen in a boat David Sauvage: and they said that this one had just died. David Sauvage: So what we did at this point, David Sauvage: we picked up the body and we put it into the boat. [01:15:32] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: Once the dead baby whale was collected, David Sauvage: the activists continued their search for answers in the lagoon. [01:15:39] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: I wanted to find out what had happened David Sauvage: to that baby whom we named Baby Brodie. David Sauvage: As we went further up into the sea and we saw what the other fisherman in the other boat said David Sauvage: was the mother of Baby Brodie. David Sauvage: And she had been accompanying David Sauvage: the baby until the baby died. David Sauvage: And she was in a very stressed state. David Sauvage: She was swimming on only one flipper. David Sauvage: Half her body was down in the was on the side in the in the in the water. David Sauvage: And she was turning around in circles and she was letting out this David Sauvage: sorrowful sound of she was like it was like she was mourning. David Sauvage: And right before our eyes. David Sauvage: This mother died. David Sauvage: She took upon a vertical position into the water. David Sauvage: Only her head was out of the water. David Sauvage: And we did not know we were helpless. [01:16:59] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: In the meantime, David Sauvage: Ruben wanted to find out more flying his drone up and down the coastline. David Sauvage: The exact number of dolphins and whales that died will never be known. David Sauvage: But at least 50 have been counted. David Sauvage: Once again, the government attempted to cover up the extent of the disaster. [01:17:24] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: And I found a fisherman David Sauvage: who had agreed to keep baby Brodie in a freezer in his house. David Sauvage: He was, of course, very afraid to do it. [01:17:43] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: A veterinary surgeon was called in to supervise via WhatsApp David Sauvage: an autopsy on the dolphin recovered from the Mauritian beach. David Sauvage: What they found out was incredible. [01:17:55] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: We managed to get in touch David Sauvage: with a group of people from abroad. David Sauvage: One guy, a French guy, David Sauvage: who was specialized in animal necropsies. David Sauvage: So he guided us, David Sauvage: a team of people here, actually two people here, David Sauvage: me and some other person who doesn't want to be named. David Sauvage: And we cut the animal open. David Sauvage: We were doing this through a WhatsApp David Sauvage: call, it lasted more than six hours. David Sauvage: And we did a necropsy of David Sauvage: dead baby Brodie. David Sauvage: And before we opened up baby Brodie, David Sauvage: the man told us David Sauvage: what we should expect to find. [01:18:51] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: Ruben Pillay was looking for evidence that the death of baby Brodie David Sauvage: and dozens of cetaceans David Sauvage: had something to do with the sinking of the bow of the Wakashio. [01:19:01] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: He said that if it was an explosion that frightened the dolphin, David Sauvage: if it was the sonar of the bathymetric survey that David Sauvage: frightened the dolphins, David Sauvage: their death would have been caused by rapid resurfacing, David Sauvage: which is called a decompression sickness. David Sauvage: And if that is the case, David Sauvage: we would see bubbles of air on the sacks David Sauvage: surrounding their organs in the body of the animals. David Sauvage: And this is exactly what we saw when we opened up baby Brodie. [01:19:48] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: Somehow the whales had risen to the surface too fast, David Sauvage: causing nitrogen bubbles to form in their bloodstream. David Sauvage: The scars on their faces David Sauvage: show they swam into the reefs without seeing them with sonar. [01:20:04] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: The government had conducted a survey, David Sauvage: a bathymetric scan which uses sonar in connection with the wakashiyo there on the 22nd of August. David Sauvage: And three days later, David Sauvage: the melon-headed whales started washing up dead on the coast. [01:20:33] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The salvers sank the wakashiyo bow, David Sauvage: not only in a whale spawning area, David Sauvage: but also in the center of sea currents David Sauvage: that will carry debris and pollutants David Sauvage: in the direction of Réunion and Mauritius for decades to come. David Sauvage: An inexplicable error. David Sauvage: The tragedy that surrounds the wakashiyo does not end here. David Sauvage: At the end of August 2020, David Sauvage: the Mauritian authorities decided to speed up the extraction of fuel oil David Sauvage: from the carcass of the wakashiyo stern. David Sauvage: One of the tugs used to tow fuel barges David Sauvage: was the Sir Gaetan, filmed here alongside the wreck. [01:21:25] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: There was a barge that was involved in David Sauvage: the salvage operation, and an order was given by the port authorities David Sauvage: for a tug, an old rusted tug, the Sir Gaetan, David Sauvage: to go and fetch that barge. David Sauvage: And the weather wasn't good. David Sauvage: An accident occurred. David Sauvage: And the tugboat sank. David Sauvage: Some people on board managed to survive, David Sauvage: but four did not. [01:22:05] Speaker 11: David Sauvage: The tug Sagaetan is a very old tug, I don't remember her age. David Sauvage: And everybody knows in the port, including the director of shipping, David Sauvage: who is supposed, who has the power David Sauvage: to arrest any vessel not having the adequate certificate David Sauvage: to sail out of a port. David Sauvage: That specific tug was an old one, David Sauvage: badly maintained, with no certificates at all, David Sauvage: so that tug wasn't she worthy. David Sauvage: So even though David Sauvage: Human beings were sent on that tug to their death. [01:22:48] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: It seems from these images recovered by the divers who filmed David Sauvage: during the underwater removal of the ship's fuel David Sauvage: that the barge crashed into the tugboat, David Sauvage: slicing a hole in the hull below the waterline David Sauvage: and possibly throwing the crew members overboard. David Sauvage: It was a national tragedy. [01:23:08] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: Divers were sent down there to find out what happened David Sauvage: and to recover evidence. David Sauvage: And pictures were posted David Sauvage: on the Indian Navy page. David Sauvage: It was upon digging into David Sauvage: that Indian Navy page that I found David Sauvage: those pictures of the sunken Sir Gaitan. David Sauvage: And I managed to have a good look at the crack of the Sir Gaitan. David Sauvage: I was able to match the picture of the crack David Sauvage: and the actual position of the bullets David Sauvage: on the barge. [01:23:51] Speaker 10: David Sauvage: We entered another level of engagement David Sauvage: via what I recall the social mobilization. David Sauvage: So the first important one David Sauvage: after the wakash show was on the 29th David Sauvage: 29th of august in the capital city of Portris, David Sauvage: where we have like over 100,000 of people that were in the street. David Sauvage: It was I would call it most of an outcry of the population of Mauritius David Sauvage: against the way that this was handled by the government. [01:24:26] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The Sir Gaitan disaster was the worst loss of life in the whole David Sauvage: Wakashio wreck incident. David Sauvage: Four men lost their lives trying to save Mauritius' shoreline. David Sauvage: And public opinion was increasingly turning against the government. David Sauvage: In the meantime, the protests on the island were growing. David Sauvage: The government's lazy response to the wreck, David Sauvage: its inability to handle the oil spill, David Sauvage: and the slow arrest of the captain David Sauvage: spread anger among the local population David Sauvage: who filled the streets of the capital, Port Louis, on the 29th of august. David Sauvage: Under pressure from these massive protests, David Sauvage: the government now decided to arrest the captain David Sauvage: and investigate what had actually happened. [01:25:16] Speaker 9: David Sauvage: On the 29th of august, David Sauvage: we protested. David Sauvage: More than 60,000 people, Mauritians, David Sauvage: flooded the streets of Port Louis in protest against that government. David Sauvage: Because we were not happy David Sauvage: in the way that the Wakashio situation was dealt with. David Sauvage: We were not happy that they sunk David Sauvage: the front portion of the ship David Sauvage: and caused the death of the dolphins. David Sauvage: There were also several other issues. [01:25:57] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: In November 2020, the Mauritian government David Sauvage: appointed the Chinese salvage company David Sauvage: Lian Yung Ang Dali Underwater Engineering David Sauvage: to remove the wreck. David Sauvage: But it was not until the 15th of February 2021 David Sauvage: that they began work cutting up the stern of the ship. David Sauvage: They brought in the crane barge Hongbang 6, David Sauvage: one of only three of its kind in the world. [01:26:25] Speaker 11: David Sauvage: Initially, they said it would take three to four months. David Sauvage: This is what was said. David Sauvage: But now we are closing to one year now, David Sauvage: because we are nearly end of the year, David Sauvage: closing end of the year. David Sauvage: So February, the Hongbang was there. David Sauvage: It will be February very soon. David Sauvage: And the wakashu is still there. David Sauvage: So I think we are going for at least two more years. [01:26:51] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The semi-submersible barge Xin Chuan Ha David Sauvage: traveled with the crane to collect the parts removed David Sauvage: that were then taken all around the island David Sauvage: to Port Louis, where they were decontaminated. David Sauvage: The Mauritian authorities have still David Sauvage: failed to carry out an investigation into what actually happened David Sauvage: that fateful night. David Sauvage: The voyage data recorder has still not been examined David Sauvage: to explain the changes of course David Sauvage: and the trial of the captain and crew has only just begun. David Sauvage: The wakashu incident had become the symbol David Sauvage: of something that wasn't right in this island paradise. David Sauvage: And what actually happened that night may never be known. David Sauvage: Too many unexplained events David Sauvage: seem to make this David Sauvage: into one of the most absurd shipwrecks of all time. David Sauvage: Beirut, Lebanon. David Sauvage: Once a point of pride for Lebanon David Sauvage: and a floating haven of happiness David Sauvage: for Arabic speaking cruise enthusiasts, David Sauvage: this is the orient queen today. David Sauvage: sinking sadly in the port of Beirut, David Sauvage: just next to the iconic silos and rubble David Sauvage: from one of the world's most powerful explosions ever. David Sauvage: Like hundreds of Lebanese whose lives were destroyed, David Sauvage: and like much of the old city of Beirut, David Sauvage: which was ripped to shreds, David Sauvage: the ship fell victim to a massive explosion David Sauvage: in an adjacent port warehouse, David Sauvage: inexplicably stocked, full of highly flammable ammonium nitrate. David Sauvage: Two crew members died, David Sauvage: and seven were injured, David Sauvage: when shockwave from the blast tore through the ship. David Sauvage: Our only dream and main goal David Sauvage: was to put Lebanon on the world map David Sauvage: as a main sailing touristic destination, David Sauvage: while other people's goal, David Sauvage: those responsible, David Sauvage: had only one goal: David Sauvage: to make money from corruption David Sauvage: and make of Lebanon and the port of Beirut David Sauvage: a lawless country and place. David Sauvage: And because of that chaos, David Sauvage: we lost the boat, David Sauvage: we lost two young men, David Sauvage: and we had many wounded. David Sauvage: It was very painful. David Sauvage: [01:29:56] Speaker 12: David Sauvage: Who knew? David Sauvage: If we knew what was at the port, David Sauvage: not only David Sauvage: wouldn't we leave the vessel there, David Sauvage: we wouldn't even bring David Sauvage: crew on board or passengers, David Sauvage: my kids, everyone. David Sauvage: It's not just on a personal level, David Sauvage: it's just thinking about what has been there David Sauvage: and we've been passing by next to it, David Sauvage: not knowing what it was. David Sauvage: What a responsibility. David Sauvage: What if this has happened on a Sunday David Sauvage: when we were embarking families on vacation David Sauvage: with children. David Sauvage: It's unforgivable. [01:30:33] Speaker 2: David Sauvage: At that time I did not believe what had happened. David Sauvage: It was so surreal, David Sauvage: as if it was a dream or a nightmare we were living. David Sauvage: To be honest with you, David Sauvage: till now I'm not believing what happened David Sauvage: and I haven't gone back to see the ship. David Sauvage: It's very painful for me to see it in a total wreckage. David Sauvage: It is the same feeling as seeing your own home totally destroyed. David Sauvage: This is where I have the best memories David Sauvage: and I don't think I will be able to go back anytime soon. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I got married. [01:31:15] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The blast leaves the stricken city David Sauvage: It is a brutal end to a vibrant period of growth and expansion for Beirut. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. [01:31:25] Speaker ?: David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. [01:31:48] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: This is where I met my wife. David Sauvage: Haunting dock workers who pass her rusting iron carcass every day, as business David Sauvage: slowly returns to the port. David Sauvage: It is the 4th of August 2020. David Sauvage: A sweltering hot day in Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon. David Sauvage: And despite the worst political and economic crisis since the end of the civil war, David Sauvage: A rigid lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic and a rapidly collapsing currency. David Sauvage: Some business is still staying afloat in this progressive pearl of the Mediterranean. David Sauvage: Abu Meri Lines was a symbol of the Lebanese entrepreneurial spirit David Sauvage: that was thriving in Beirut before the blast. David Sauvage: This is the port of Beirut. David Sauvage: The gateway to the whole of the Middle East. David Sauvage: It was here that the Abu Meri family ran a thriving shipping business, David Sauvage: with three car carriers, as well as a cruise business that had grown David Sauvage: since the company bought the Orient Queen passenger liner. David Sauvage: We have many ships. David Sauvage: We started as a shipping company. David Sauvage: In 2005, we started the cruise line. David Sauvage: And in 2006, the Lebanese-Israeli war broke out. David Sauvage: Back then, we had the first Orient Queen. David Sauvage: In 2012, we renewed our activities and bought this one: David Sauvage: The new Orient Queen. David Sauvage: The Orient Queen Heidi. [01:33:39] Speaker 12: David Sauvage: The Orient Queen is just a masterpiece for me. David Sauvage: In 2003, we as a family that lived abroad for long years and came to Lebanon, David Sauvage: And we have history in the sea. David Sauvage: We thought, why not have a cruise ship for this market? David Sauvage: It's a blue ocean. David Sauvage: The idea of cruise industry was not so mature in the Arabic market. David Sauvage: And we had tried several cruise lines in Europe and we just fell in love with it. David Sauvage: We thought this must happen in Lebanon. [01:34:15] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: However, there was an unseen menace that only a few key officials knew about, David Sauvage: as they had been warned several times. David Sauvage: A security guard raised an unheeded alarm months earlier. David Sauvage: This is his uncle. [01:34:37] Speaker 4: David Sauvage: In 2013, the ship called Rosas arrives in Beirut with 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate. David Sauvage: In 2014, this is offloaded in Beirut port. David Sauvage: At this time, there was no special governmental security force David Sauvage: in charge of the port. [01:34:55] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The busy port of Beirut is located near the heavily populated city's David Sauvage: political and commercial center. David Sauvage: A ship is docked alongside. David Sauvage: It is the Moldovan flagged MS Rosos, carrying 2750 tons of David Sauvage: explosives grade ammonium nitrate that were offloaded a year later, David Sauvage: when the ship was arrested and found unseaworthy by the port authorities. David Sauvage: The explosives were stocked in Warehouse 12. David Sauvage: In these pictures of the Warehouse 12 on the southern dock, David Sauvage: we can see the poor state of repair of the building, David Sauvage: and its location right next to the grain silos. David Sauvage: The explosives were left there despite repeated calls to dispose of them. David Sauvage: Neither the owners nor the army wanted to touch them, David Sauvage: at least not officially. David Sauvage: Ironically, the Orient Queen almost always used Pier 5 behind the silos. David Sauvage: But port authorities in spring 2020 asked Abu Meiri lines David Sauvage: to begin embarking passengers at Pier 11. David Sauvage: Dawn breaks over the busy port of Beirut. David Sauvage: After a period of closure for the Covid pandemic, David Sauvage: the MS Orient Queen cruise ship had just restarted David Sauvage: taking passengers from the Arabic-speaking world on cruises David Sauvage: through the breathtaking islands and seas of the eastern Mediterranean, David Sauvage: with stops in Turkey, Cyprus and Greece. [01:36:43] Speaker 12: Lise Hagen: The Orient Queen is also differentiated David Sauvage: not only to be the only Arabic cruise line in the region, David Sauvage: but also it was giving an added value to the Arabic passengers David Sauvage: that it was visiting Greek islands without the Schengen visa. David Sauvage: It was just a superstar in the region. David Sauvage: Everyone knew the Orient Queen. David Sauvage: She was just a queen. [01:37:08] Speaker 4: David Sauvage: Aboard, everything was totally Lebanese and Arabic. David Sauvage: From the food to the entertainment, the staff, David Sauvage: there was ease of communication. David Sauvage: The atmosphere was very, very nice. David Sauvage: The Lebanese passenger is very understanding. David Sauvage: They don't complain. David Sauvage: They're content and feel at home. [01:37:36] Speaker ?: David Sauvage: They're content and feel at home. [01:37:36] Speaker 13: David Sauvage: They're content. David Sauvage: They feel at home. [01:37:38] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: The 122-meter-long cruise ship David Sauvage: had just returned in late June from a 22-day stint in Saudi Arabia as a floating hotel. David Sauvage: She was birthed back in Beirut due to Covid. David Sauvage: Crew members were taking advantage of the down period David Sauvage: to go home to their families and take some time off before the next trip. David Sauvage: A skeleton crew of 23 was still on board. [01:38:07] Speaker 13: David Sauvage: We went to the ship to the house to take a little bit. [01:38:11] Speaker 4: David Sauvage: We sent the crew home to take a breather to prepare for the next trip. David Sauvage: But there was no time to plan it. David Sauvage: And now to see it half sunken in their port. David Sauvage: And I saw all the videos. David Sauvage: Well, it brings a certain amount of emotion. [01:38:28] Speaker 13: David Sauvage: [01:38:33] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: Built in Spain in 1989, the ship had initially operated in the Caribbean and Mediterranean David Sauvage: under the name Vista Mar and operated under charter by German-based cruise companies. David Sauvage: She had also taken voyages to the Arctic and the Antarctic, David Sauvage: to Greenland and even up the Amazon River. David Sauvage: After striking a rock near her home port of Ibiza, David Sauvage: she was repaired in dry dock and then kept sailing. [01:39:06] Speaker 12: David Sauvage: She was an idol in Italy when we visited her. David Sauvage: We were searching for this size of vessel. David Sauvage: And it was just love at first sight. David Sauvage: So there were so many minor things to be done, actually. [01:39:24] Speaker 1: David Sauvage: In 2012, she was acquired by the Lebanon-based Abu Mehri Group, David Sauvage: who remodelled her interior to give it an oriental appeal David Sauvage: for wealthy Middle Eastern clients. David Sauvage: Hannah worked on the ship for years, curating entertainment, food and guest's comfort, David Sauvage: before eventually becoming manager. David Sauvage: The mother of two speaks lovingly about the vessel, her great passion. [01:39:52] Speaker 12: Hannah Hanna: Just when you enter the vessel, Hannah Hanna: at the reception area on deck five, people would go in and they would just look upwards. Hannah Hanna: It's where the panoramic stairs with the dome on top. Hannah Hanna: And you would find the crew members standing around during embarkation. Hannah Hanna: Greeting the people, everyone in front of his own facility, the spa, the casino, Hannah Hanna: the kids club, they were just waiting to greet the people. Hannah Hanna: So this was my favorite part, is when you enter at embarkation, it was every Sunday. Hannah Hanna: You just look up and everyone was just ready for a new adventure. Hannah Hanna: I have pictures of the Orient Queen on my mobile phone. Hannah Hanna: I won't say more, but probably as much as I have of my own two kids. [01:40:37] Speaker 1: Hannah Hanna: The appetite for cruise options with Muslim sensitivities was growing. Hannah Hanna: And as the only cruise company actively targeting the Arabic source market Hannah Hanna: with trips that didn't require European Schengen visas, business was booming. [01:41:01] Speaker 4: Hannah Hanna: We had the permission to transit in Greek ports without visas. Hannah Hanna: Obviously, we took the whole responsibility on ourselves and thankfully, touching wood, we never had any big problems. Hannah Hanna: On the other hand, we were also very careful about how clients boarded, how much luggage they had, and the owner himself, when he came out on the cruise, Hannah Hanna: which happened quite often, stood there looking out for anyone suspicious. Hannah Hanna: It was teamwork to watch out for strange people. [01:41:27] Speaker 13: Hannah Hanna: [01:41:32] Speaker 12: Hannah Hanna: It is a 300 passenger ship, so it was ideal for the market size. Hannah Hanna: Even the size of it, it's described as a boutique cruise. Hannah Hanna: It was accessible to Virgin Islands. Hannah Hanna: Also, the passengers, they used to come from different countries in the Arabic region, not just Lebanon. And Arabic passengers, by default, are sociable people. Hannah Hanna: They like to make some friends and to be around, to socialize. Hannah Hanna: So, the size of it was just perfect because everyone was gathered in the same place, dining room, shows, it was together. [01:42:13] Speaker 1: Hannah Hanna: I am the assistant officer and ship security officer. Hannah Hanna: I have been working on the Orient Queen for six years, from 2013 till the explosion. Hannah Hanna: Orient Queen was my second home, especially with the crew and the captain. Hannah Hanna: We were very well treated and had a nice life on the ship. Hannah Hanna: We were from different nationalities. Hannah Hanna: There were Germans, Filipinos, Ukrainians, Romanians, from different places. [01:42:39] Speaker 12: Hannah Hanna: The nice thing about this operation is the loyalty we formed with the crew members, it became a big family because Hannah Hanna: we had around 85% of the crew members returning every season. Hannah Hanna: They would make sure that they are available throughout those months to be back Hannah Hanna: with us and this created a strong bond. Hannah Hanna: Plus, towards the passengers that were sailing with us on a seasonal basis Hannah Hanna: and sometimes more than once every season. Hannah Hanna: It was just, there was no ice to break. Hannah Hanna: They used to call each other by name. Hannah Hanna: It was just a very positive, peaceful, happy project. [01:43:23] Speaker 1: Hannah Hanna: Sometimes, Mr. Abu Mairi himself took cruises alongside his loyal customers. "Orient Queen, in my opinion, of lots of people who've sailed on it, is a place where you build good memories. I have very good souvenirs. As far as I am concerned, it was more pleasure than business. Seeing people happy made me happy. Hannah Hanna: We were the only one to sail from Beirut port as a cruising destination. As the sun began to set in the late afternoon of August the 4th, 2020, a fire broke out in the port, in Warehouse 12. It was around 5:40 local time. The fire brigade was sent to the scene at 5:54. The crew of the Orient Queen had also noticed the fire and were curious. Muhammad Khalifa and other members of the crew had gone out onto the dockside to check it out, and had begun filming with their cell phones. [01:44:35] Speaker 2: "The sound of the fire started changing suddenly, and I felt something dangerous was about to happen, so I ordered the crew members to stop taking photos and to run towards the boat to hide. While we were running, the explosion happened, and we were blown away at least five meters by the strength of the explosion, which provoked massive waves. We could not understand what was going on. It was as if hell had fallen on us." [01:45:03] Speaker 14: "On the day of the explosion, we were inside the boat when we started hearing a sound very similar [01:45:18] Speaker 1: to fireworks, so we decided to go out to watch. Once outside, we heard a loud explosion. My co-worker told me, 'Let's go inside and hide.' We started running, but did not have time to make it inside the boat when a second huge explosion happened." "Some of the crew members were inside the boat and others were outside. Those outside tried to hide. I tried to hide behind a car, when suddenly a huge wave hit us. The wave threw us away, and I could no longer find the car I was hiding behind." [01:46:11] Speaker 2: The view of the boat and of the sea were abnormal for 30 seconds. "At least 12-meter-high waves, much higher than the boat itself. The strength of the waves carried everything on its way. Containers, cars, stones, fragments, everything was flying and falling on us." [01:46:46] Speaker 13: "My office looked at the side of the warehouse and I heard these small explosions, but they were not big [01:46:58] Speaker 4: explosions. But after about 15 minutes of calm, suddenly there was this big explosion and I was hit by a thousand things and thrown about 20 meters. I felt the contact of my foot with the floor and so I threw myself down on the floor. And this saved me because I avoided all the debris that was arriving from outside. [01:47:17] Speaker 13: The explosion produced the equivalent of 1.1 kilotons of TNT, possibly the largest non-nuclear explosion of all time. [01:47:25] Speaker 1: The explosion produced the equivalent of 1.1 kilotons of TNT, possibly the largest non-nuclear explosion of all time. It was registered as a 4.3 Richter scale earthquake in Jordan and was heard as far away as Cyprus. The energy released swept over western Beirut. The original fire that set off the fireworks was so spectacular as to attract many people to their windows to watch, filming the events as they unfolded. As a result, the explosion was captured on video by dozens of mobile phones, along with panicked reactions as the big blast broke their owners' windows and destroyed their homes while they shot the video. When the explosion happened, the shockwave that arrived just seconds later threw the crew around the ship like ragdolls. Several were thrown into the water. [01:48:40] Speaker 14: When the sea buried us with its waves, I fainted and could not breathe. [01:48:58] Speaker 1: It took me a few seconds to regain consciousness. I woke up and looked around me and it was so dusty and dark that we could not see anything. I started searching for my co-workers. Some were coming out very wounded from the boat. [01:49:32] Speaker 2: We were 23 on the ship. Unfortunately, we lost two. [01:49:39] Speaker 15: Among those, 18 approximately were on the sidewalk taking photos. [01:49:45] Speaker 2: And the others were inside the boat or on the open deck. Those who died were on the top open deck and the second one was on the sidewalk. It took us more than two hours to find the guy who was on the sidewalk. We found him 40 meters away from the boat. [01:50:10] Speaker 12: Fourth of August, I was in my hometown. At that time, it is 45 kilometers away from Beirut, Sidon. And I was heading home and I was at a photographer's shop picking up photographs of my children. And I remember the whole shop, it shook. The glass, the doors, it was like pressure and my ears, I felt the pressure. The salesman was quite an elder person. He stood up and he said, "That's an explosion." And then he sat down and continued working as if nothing had happened. I ran home and then my daughter was standing at the door of the house. She's 10 years old. And she screamed, "Mommy, it's an earthquake." I ran into the house, I remember I left my bags on the floor, everything, just to turn on the news. And this is where my husband came. He told me, "Relax." But apparently something at the port happened. [01:51:17] Speaker 1: Hannah's phone would soon be lighting up with messages from friends and family across Lebanon. She scrolled back through and saw a message from hotel director and veteran crew member Vincenzo Orlandini, sent just one minute before the explosion. [01:51:39] Speaker 12: I went back in my chats to call Vincenzo Orlandini, who was on board and we had been talking not a long time ago. And I saw that he had sent me a text message at six o'clock and three minutes. There is a big fire next to us and it looks dangerous. [01:51:55] Speaker 4: She was in a place where reception isn't good, so I left a voice message. And then I called my family here to say that if they heard something, I was okay. I was alive. Then communications ended. [01:52:09] Speaker 12: I tried every single number I have of all of them. Mohammed, Mahmoud, Captain Roger, everyone I know at the port. It was impossible. I remember Vincenzo was using his African SIM card. I don't know if there's any relation or not on his WhatsApp. So I called him on WhatsApp on his African number and he answered. I heard his voice. He didn't take long to pick up, but it was the longest moment of my life, waiting for him to pick up. When he answered, he said, we're okay, there was a big explosion. Many crew are injured and then I lost connection. [01:52:51] Speaker 1: The port was in tatters with injured dock workers crying for aid from beneath the rubble. In the old city of Beirut, shell-shocked, injured residents were streaming through the broken city, searching for hospitals and help. At Pier 11, the Orient Queen had taken the full brunt of the explosion, just 500 meters away. And several of the skeleton crew, just 23 men, were injured or missing. [01:53:28] Speaker 4: One of the things I'd seen was one of the crew members who was riding around on a bicycle. And the full force of the explosion hit him full on. Another two were wounded, another died in hospital, and all of them were of the technical crew. Most of my hotel staff survived, but the technical crew suffered the most. [01:53:48] Speaker 1: After a brief head count, the crew realized two of the 23 who had been on board were missing. Mustafa Ayrut of Syria had gone down to have coffee at a kiosk at the port. Haile Maria Mreda, Haile, of Ethiopia, had been on the open deck filming. [01:54:18] Speaker 2: At that moment, and in such a nightmarish situation, we did not believe what had happened, as if we were waking up from a bad dream. I was in so much fear, I was panicking. I could not think, and I did not know what to do, or how to react. All I could remember is that we were 23 on the ship. So we started following the loud screams to find our friends among the debris and chaos. [01:54:51] Speaker 12: So I told my father, we have seven injured crew and they need hospitals, and no number was answering for emergencies. I remember there was a live broadcast on news talking about the explosion, and we happened to know the journalists speaking. He said, "My name is Mirai Abou Mirai, I'm the owner of the Oregon Queen, on Pier 11. We have seven injured crew and we are desperately in need for ambulances. Please send help." And it was less than 15 minutes where three or four ambulances were at the port. [01:55:31] Speaker 2: "My leg was wounded, but I was okay, I was safe. I was protected by the boat. Those who ran to hide towards the boat miraculously survived. Those who stayed where they were were more seriously injured." [01:55:57] Speaker 1: Despite his own injuries, and like other crew members bleeding and battered but still able to walk, Muhammad Khalifa went to rescue others who were worse off, like Michael Villanovo. [01:56:10] Speaker 15: "I went to the swimming pool and found one of the crew members from the Philippines very badly injured, with a broken leg. But I was not able to help him alone. [01:56:34] Speaker 2: The tables, chairs and even the walls were on top of him. I called the rest of the co-workers to help me rescue him. Finally, three of us were able to carry him to the sidewalk and waited for the Red Cross to come and take him." [01:56:57] Speaker 1: When Hana located Villanovo at the hospital, doctors said they were going to amputate his leg. Hana pleaded with them not to, [01:57:07] Speaker 12: "So he had taken two or three surgeries in Lebanon and then Michael requested to go home and continue his treatment there. But he cannot work at all because he can't stand up or move. So we also feel responsible towards Michael as well." [01:57:31] Speaker 1: Hana and her family went into emergency overdrive trying to account for all the crew members who were on board the ship when the explosion happened. The ship would need attention, but the human lives had to come first. [01:57:45] Speaker 12: So I was just waiting by my phone because I always give my phone number to the crew members in case anything happens while they come from their home country to Lebanon and the island, anything. Just I feel better when I know that they have, they can directly reach me because I'm always reachable. So that night I received a phone call from a random number and I answered and the person didn't say anything. It was a man, he was just crying. It was one of the crew members, but he was out of words, so he just cried. [01:58:24] Speaker 2: "When the explosion happened, my phone broke. And after an hour I remembered that I had to call my parents to tell them I was okay. So I used the phone of someone who was there. They were terrified with the thought that I might have had something. I also called my wife. She was crying and I told her, "Thank God you were not there." [01:59:07] Speaker 1: "On the day of the explosion, I lost my phone. It was only two hours later that I was able to call my parents to tell them I was fine. They were extremely worried and were so relieved to find out I was still alive." [01:59:23] Speaker 12: "The situation of the crew, they were as if they came out of a war, because they were barefoot, wet, broken clothes, no personal belongings. And this is how they were taken. And for me it was okay, they have to be taken to a secure place. But where were they taken? I had no idea. But they're in good hands." [01:59:47] Speaker 1: A number of men needed ambulances and hospital care. But the hospitals themselves were in tatters. These terrifying images recorded by CCTV cameras at the St. George's Hospital that overlooks the port explain the high number of victims. The shockwave smashes the windows and pulls down fixtures to walls and ceilings. [02:00:20] Speaker 12: They were taken to a hospital. I don't remember what area. Because the hospitals around the port, nothing was remaining. And the load of the emergencies taken to hospitals, so they had to treat them in the parking lots. Yeah, they were all treated in the parking lot. Because the number of humans everywhere was. So he asked the lady that was donating blood to use her number, her mobile. So he called me. He gave me the hospital name. And I understood that the seven are together. Six actually. Six, one was not with them. And then I tried to call taxis to reach to the hospital so they can bring them back to the hotel. And no taxi service was willing to send a taxi before two hours. It was a chaos in Beirut. Chaos, chaos. [02:01:20] Speaker 1: When we left the port zone, the view was shocking and unrecognisable. It was like a desert with cars upside down and total chaos. Nothing looked the way it was before the blast. I have lived for the past six years in the port area and I know it by memory. But it was a desert and unrecognisable. [02:01:40] Speaker 14: But it was a desert and unrecognisable. That was very, very dangerous, very dangerous. [02:01:50] Speaker 1: Once the injured had been transported to hospitals and the rest of the crew was safe back at the hotel above Abu Meiri offices, finally, it was time to turn the attention to saving the ship, which had been beaten against the pier and then took the full brunt of the shockwave. [02:02:10] Speaker 2: With every minute passing by, the ship was leaning more and more, and filling with water. The explosion happened at 6 pm. The boat sank totally at 2 am. It took approximately seven hours. Don't forget that we had approximately 24 ropes attached to the boat that had totally disappeared. As much as we could, I told the crew to go inside the boat and try at least to save their personal things before the boat totally sank. We picked up what we could. As I told you, it was total chaos inside. [02:03:01] Speaker 15: The owner immediately tried to contact all the emergency vehicles, and unfortunately, no one replied. [02:03:13] Speaker 4: The owner immediately tried to contact all the emergency vehicles, and unfortunately, no one replied. And then he created the logistics side. Transport, accommodation in a hotel. They owned a hotel too. So they tried to, where possible, get us in there. So there was frenetic activity both around the ship and in the office. Remember that the owner lives in Saida, which is about 50 km from Beirut. So everyone did what they could to save what could be saved. And I have to say that the primary preoccupation of the owner was the personnel. [02:04:12] Speaker 12: We evacuated the crew and we knew that if water flows in, the end is predictable. But we were just praying for time. So the port was closed that night. Everything was closed. Nobody was allowed to enter. There was one seaman, or he's probably employed at the port. He used to help us to tie the ropes when we arrive and leave. So he called us that night. He said, I'm next to the vessel. And she's leaning more towards the pier. So we asked him to keep us updated. Please keep calling us every now and then, just so we know. By midnight, he told us that the peak of it had already touched the pier and she's now leaning. So we prayed that she would remain like this until the morning. And then we probably could find some [02:05:10] Speaker 1: help from another port just to lift it up. First, the Abo Meri family tried to make sure the ship lost no oil or fuel. The last thing Beirut needed was a polluted port. We were concerned about the [02:05:27] Speaker 12: leakage of the fuel because she was just ready for departure, fuels with everything. So obviously after the explosion, there was some leakage. So we had to take action. We didn't want to pollute or cause any more damage. And after a while, they had requested that we need to move the vessel because they are need for the pier. [02:05:49] Speaker 1: After the explosion, the ship sank. We had all kinds of fuel and oil leakage which was polluting the sea. So we paid a German company to remove all the polluting elements from the sea. [02:06:10] Speaker 16: Frustratingly, months passed without any answers. The Abo Meri family was unable to make an insurance [02:06:28] Speaker 1: claim until the government declared whether or not the explosion was an accident or intentional. Negotiations with the Ministry of Transport about dismantling the ship stalled. Confusion reigned. [02:06:42] Speaker 12: I don't think there's much left to do with it actually. Nothing is, it's just a damaged pile of metal and wood and half under water. And the logistics of taking her out of the water is a very complex operation. [02:07:03] Speaker 1: So I don't, there's nothing left actually. Our goal is to save the ship. Sorry, actually the ship is a total loss. What I meant is, our goal is to restart the cruise line. But only if there is a change of the current political leaders and parties. But as long as things remain the same, I will not do any new investment. The Abu Meri family was left in limbo, their ship slowly deteriorating, unable to be salvaged or scrapped. Its only companion, a lone sea turtle, itself missing a fin from the blast. The turtle circles the wreck day and night. Who is to blame for the 4th of August 2020 explosion in the port of Beirut, of a huge ammonium nitrate stock, may never come to light. There is proof that between 2014 and 2017, no less than three letters were sent to the government by the customs directorate warning of the danger. Nothing was done, until it was too late. My personal opinion is that there is something very strange and not normal. It is not a coincidence that this merchandise arrived in this ship, which was in a very bad shape and about to sink, then offloaded from the ship and stored in the pier for seven to eight years, to end up exploding in this particular time. There is more to it than evading responsibility. They have arrested 32 people. Of course, there is some nonchalance. But in my opinion, the explosion is made on purpose. The political situation is very bad. It's an organized crime. There are people who want to see the bankruptcy of this country. And this explosion is part of this crime, to put Lebanon on its knees, whether economically, physically, or morally. For example, my children and I, who lived in Germany in the past, The proximity of one of the world's longest-running wars, the presence of Hezbollah in the city and the arms embargo imposed on the Syrian regime, may have tempted friends of Syria to remove some of the powerful explosive for weapons use. But nothing has been proved in court, and every time a magistrate tries to dig deeper, there are attempts to have them removed from the investigation. I consider that it is much more than a roses, boat-loading merchandise and suddenly exploding. As everyone knows, some of the ammonium nitrate was allowed to leave the port territory without any control of the customs. How did this happen? And only part of it exploded. How is it possible that this explosion did not provoke the remaining of the products to explode? For me, it is a well-studied and prepared crime, with a message. [02:10:43] Speaker 16: How is it possible that this will not be done? [02:10:44] Speaker 1: How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? [02:11:07] Speaker ?: How is it possible that this will not be done? [02:11:08] Speaker 1: How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? How is it possible that this will not be done? [02:11:18] Speaker 12: Deep, deep down, I know that this is not the end of the journey. I had so many dreams of me walking through the vessel and the hallways, it was for a while. Then when I managed to gather myself and then I thought, no, I won't let this stop, we won't. [02:11:44] Speaker 4: I say, let's not waste what we've created. They had become an icon of the market, unique in the cruise market. And in the Arab tourism market, we'd become a point of reference. [02:11:56] Speaker 12: Probably, maybe the support of the crew members and the passengers that they called, emailed, letters saying, we're waiting for you and we're sure there will be an Orient Queen 3 and count us in. I think this gave me a boost to look forward. But time, I don't, it's just, we have to have stability again. So many factors in Lebanon. It's just pulling us backwards, but I'm pretty sure someday will be the right time. We'll be back. [02:12:32] Speaker 1: It is unclear, however, when Abu al-Mehri will be able to set sail with a cruise again. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on her side underwater today, more than a year and a half after the blast. The battered ship is a poignant reminder of the force that blew apart this beautiful city, and the failure of government officials to protect Lebanon's capital city and provide answers that will allow the citizens of Beirut to once again rebuild for a brighter future. [02:13:15] Speaker ?: The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship. The MS Orient Queen is still lying on the side of the ship.