Several persons have been injured, a womean working as vocalist aboard died.

77 of the 400 passengers and crew were on the ship during the incident. The passengers from Denmark, Norway, France and Belgium were evacuated and are safe now. The efforts of the fire fighters did not yet come to an end.

[ 10-02-2005: Message edited by: Ernst ]

"The four-deck, 100-metre ship is moored at the Danube embankment near the village of Sap, between the towns of Gabcikovo and Medvedov." report here.

[ 10-02-2005: Message edited by: Ernst ]

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I think the lesser regulation is because, in contrast to seacruiseships, river cruise ships are nearer to the riverbank, "firm dry land" so they are "felt" to be safer.

I guess there are more serious incidents with river cruisers than with deep sea cruise ships : remember all those collisions by viking cruiseships, and wasn't there a Nile cruiser on fire some years ago ?

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Johan wrote:
...and wasn't there a Nile cruiser on fire some years ago ?

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I think there was an incident just recently.

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If this is in fact the correct number of bodies onboard - I would suspect this was more of a "day cruiseer" than a River Cruise Ship.

Our ships at 110m only carry 138 passengers and a crew of about 50 or so. I only state this so that it can be put into perspective why I suspect this is not a Cruiser per se.

BBC News Story

"M/S OLTENITA & M/S CARPATI
M/S Oltenita & M/S Carpati are old fashion sister-ships with the remains of the provocative spirit of the sixties. The ships were built in 1961 as a Rumanian presidential vessels and was totally renovated in 2002. Those ships are considered to be the pioneers on the Waterways of Danube on the route from Vienna to the Black Sea.

Data:
Length: 83 m; Width: 14 m; Speed 20 km/h; Draft: 1.7 m; Crew: 42.
Capacity: 75 passengers in a total of 42 cabins.

All cabins faces outward with windows that open and are equipped with air condition, toilets & showers (some rooms with bathtub).

Facilities on board: Two restaurants, bar, “Blue saloon”, medical facilities. Live music every night.

Quality Cruise Managers: Mr. Gordan Mijailovic (M/S Oltenita) and Mr. Zoran Hrvacanin (M/S Carpati)"

The numbers aboard cannot be correct in the initial reports.

"Norwegians dominated the passenger list of a riverboat that caught fire while cruising the Danube River on the border between Slovakia and Hungary on Sunday. All escaped the flames, but described the rescue operation as "chaotic."

Slovakian firefighters tried to extinguish the fire on the Romanian riverboat after passengers were evacuated.

The fire broke out on board the riverboat Oltenita, which was cruising from Bucharest to Vienna. Of the 77 passengers on board, 46 were Norwegians who had booked their holiday through the Kuoni travel agency in Oslo.

"We had just eaten lunch and I went back to our cabin to pick up something," passenger Steinar Nilsen told newspaper Aftenposten. "When I came out of the cabin three minutes later, the corridor was full of smoke."

Nilsen, who was celebrating a wedding anniversary on board the vessel, said many of the other passengers were elderly. "There was full panic on board," he said. "Crew members were running back and forth. I never heard a fire alarm."

The fire reportedly spread quickly, and some passengers had to climb out of their cabins' windows during the evacuation. The crew eventually managed to maneuver the vessel alongside the riverbank, so passengers could get to land.

Embassy officials in nearby Bratislava helped passengers replace travel documents lost in the blaze. The vessel was 40 years old and once was the favorite riverboat of former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu." from Aftenposten.

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Read "Jim Bludso of the Prairie Belle" at the link below. A graphic description of the times.

I remember the poem from the days when I was a kid. And, of course, it includes the racist rhetoric of the times as well...sorry.

http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1286.html

[ 10-03-2005: Message edited by: Cambodge ]

Ships on the danube usually have one, maybe two small boats - too small to tender passengers ashore quickly (not to talk about where and how to land (quickly)) Rafts would not make any sense due to the strong current (in some parts of the river) - so if it is urgent the only option is to jump into the cold water of a river
with a very strong current,
with some dangerouse obstacles like bridges or rocks,
and a shore where it might be quite difficult to get out of the water.

Also, these ships have no subdivisions comparable to high sea going vessels.

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Ernst wrote:
...Ships on the danube usually have one, maybe two small boats - too small to tender passengers ashore quickly (not to talk about where and how to land (quickly)) Rafts would not make any sense due to the strong current (in some parts of the river) - so if it is urgent the only option is to jump into the cold water of a river with a very strong current, with some dangerouse obstacles like bridges or rocks, and a shore where it might be quite difficult to get out of the water.

Also, these ships have no subdivisions comparable to high sea going vessels...

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From what you have said Ernst, it seems like there are too many deficiencies on river cruisers. They better change the rules or they may have worse disasters on their hands.

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Cruise ship on Danube destroyed in fire
October 3, 2005

A Romanian cruise ship was on fire near the Gabcikovo dam, a part of a hydro-electric power station, on the Danube River. The fire broke out shortly before 3 p.m. on Sunday. The ship was carrying foreign holiday-makers. The missing passenger was found dead in her room late Sunday evening. According to witnesses, the fire started in an area where food was being prepared. The fire began to spread uncontrollably and completely destroyed the four-deck 100-metre-long ship. The evacuated passengers and crew were taken to the nearby village of Sap.

Slovensko.com

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quote:

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Originally posted by bulbousbow:

From what you have said Ernst, it seems like there are too many deficiencies on river cruisers. They better change the rules or they may have worse disasters on their hands.

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Cheers

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quote:

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Originally posted by Ernst:

I agree. River vessels are of course different to high sea going vessels so many things - like the evacuation of the vessel - have to be organized in a different way.

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Originally posted by Johan:

Perhaps this disaster will be the "last drop".
Also, I think it is also the last years River cruises have become more and more popular, and widespread.
In season there is now almost daily a river cruiser here in Antwerp, before it was rare
and in fact you only heard about cruises on the Rhine or in Russia, and around Vienna.
Perhaps because of the Rhine/Donau Canal ?
J

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I have my doubts that this will change a lot.
Of course the close shore & shallow water argument is in many cases 100% true - in most cases the vessel would not sink completely or could reach the shore - but there are places where this is at least much more difficult. I have to admit that I also do not know how to handle an "urgent" evacuation of such a vessels under such conditions. Generally, having several hundred passengers suddenly in the water is not good, even close to the shore. (cruise ships are less a problem than excursion vessel)

So, I would say in most cases there should not be a problem - only in a situation where it is necessary to get of the ship really quickly (a big fire or explosion) it might be critical. (look at the incident in New York - they only had to swim 30 feet and still several people died)

[ 10-04-2005: Message edited by: Ernst ]