Peter Sharp and Harmish Sharp, co-owners of Star Shipping and Bismark Marine are now tight-lipped over the fourth and fatal disaster involving one of their ferries, which is not a fully-fledged merchant or passenger ship that is capable of cruising on such treacherous conditions for longer than expected. In particular, Peter Sharp after all, may not be the chief mariner he once claimed to be. The recent tragedy that occurred off the Finschhafen waters in the Morobe Province may be the anticlimax of his shipping business. I offer my deepest sympathies to the survivors and the families of those who lost loved ones to that freakish disaster.

I suggest that this tragedy must be elevated to the status of crime against humanity based on professional negligence by the Star Shipping management in operating unseaworthy merchant fleet. One man’s greed for money has cost the lives of innocent others, most of whom are women, children and elderly. In view of this, certain facts must be accounted for to support the call for a thorough investigation by the National Maritime Safety Authority.

First, it was evident that many weeks prior to the disaster, precautionary warning measures have been sounded by the national disaster and weather offices to all, including operators of boats and vessels operating along the PNG coastal waters. It is expected that local merchant shipping owners should take heed and exercise reasonable care, and consistently apply safety measures.

Second, Star Shipping and Bismark Marine on record has so far been involved in three similar incidents in the recent years, and those grey lessons should be reason enough for them to improve, or completely revamp their ailing merchant fleet. A 1983 ferry intended for short trips should be decommissioned by now.

Third, because there is lack of competition, owners of these ships were cosier with accumulating profits, thus neglecting their social corporate responsibility to act on good faith and apply reasonable care of duty. Safety records were not fully complied with in almost all routes operated by Star Shipping and Bismark Marine ferries. Against these three lessons, I basically argue that whether this tragedy is natural or merely erroneous judgement by the ship’s crew, Star Shipping must be made accountable for sheer negligence and professional misjudgment.

Solomon Queen at the wharf on Buka

Three sister ships of the now sunken MV RABAUL QUEEN are still berthed at Buka wharf whilst talks between Rabaul Shipping continues for the release of these vessels, reports New Dawn FM.

A preliminary investigation into the sinking is underway but Francis Awesa wants Australian help to carry out an independent investigation.

Six people are known to have died when the ferry sank, and more than 100 are still missing.

The remaining 246 people were rescued.

Mr Awesa says the ferry had 40 more people on board than it was licensed to carry.

The National Maritime Safety Authority (NMSA) has ordered the grounding of ships owned by Lae-based Lutheran Shipping Company over maritime safety issues.

Four of the company’s eight ships had been pulled off the sea lanes last week, affecting thousands of people and businesses in the coastal areas of Mamose and Islands regions.

Sources within the PNG’s oldest shipping company, owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church-PNG, said NMSA ordered the company to ground four of its eight vessels because they were not seaworthy.

The Ships and Survey Inspection division of NMSA confirmed the grounding of the vessels.

Sources within the division said the problem is not only confined to Lutheran Shipping, but that other coastal freight and passenger operators were also in the same predicament.

They said two other shipping companies would be targetted in the next few weeks, as NMSA clamps down on unseaworthy and unsafe ships.

The problems with Lutheran Shipping’s ships were brought to light by the NMSA Lae office, which was only recently set up and it was just starting to conduct random inspections on all vessels operating in PNG waters.

Lutheran Shipping’s vessels grounded were MV Mamose Express, MV Maneba, MV Rita and MV Umboi.

The company also owns MV Kudar, on lease to Consort Shipping, MV Wewak, MV Nagada and MV Totol but the latter two were sold.

The grounded ships were serving all the local ports like Buki, Maneba, Wasu, Sialum, Siassi in Morobe, Madang, East Sepik, Sandaun, Manus and West New Britain provinces.

Sources confirmed the grounding of the vessels because they were a risk to the travelling public and cargo.

Reports said move has seriously affected travelling public and cargo bound for these ports and to Lae.

Another of the company’s passenger vessel MV Gejamsao has been on the dry docks in Madang for the past six months.

The problems at the shipping company has also left the workers on shaky grounds, with some of them already looking for jobs elsewhere.

• From Rabaul to Kimbe passengers were already more than enough (I dont really know the sitting capacity, i’d guess about 300)
• It takes 3 days and 2 nights to get to Lae from Rabaul or vice versa. On the 2nd day at between12 and 1pm we arrived at Kimbe wharf and offloaded cargo and passengers while new passengers got on board with their new cargos.
• The new passengers on board were more than those that got off…at least 100+ maybe more (mostly Highlanders with their bags of buai!)
• When everyone was on board there was hardly any room to move around, I was stuck where I sat… going to the loo would be an issue – I would literally have to jump over sleeping/sitting people (which was what happened on my way to Rabaul too)
• Between 5-6pm when the ship started to move out of Kimbe wharf to begin its journey to Lae it started to rain and the place began to get a little dark.
• About 50 meters from the wharf, I felt a big thud and the ship came to a halt!… The front of the ship suddenly felt higher than the back.
• People were suddenly crowding along the railing, I joined in and managed to look over board and saw big chunky pieces of reef/coral sticking out of the sides of the ship – we had run aground!
• Some men climbed up to the Captains cabin and it was locked as he had locked himself in out of fear of retaliation from passengers, which was what happend on board. Some men were trying to break the door down and beat him up. Later we heard that he had apparently been entertaining some women in his cabin and a crew member had been at the helm. Dont know if that really happend or he was just sleeping in his cabin whilst the crew member took over.
• We then had to wait for negotiations between the Kimbe whard and main Rabaul Shipping office in Rabaul. We waited till about 7pm for the rescue boat to be given permission to be used to evacuate us!
• We got rescued whilst the rain pelted down on us, everyone was on the wharf by about 10pm.
• I had to wait a week for my refund, which i used to top up for airfares back to Madang via Pom. The rest of the people waited for the now sunken Rabaul Queen to take them to Lae.

By Grace Tiden

The Attorney General Dr Allan Marat has issued instructions for an entirely independent investigation team to be set up to investigate the cause of PNG’s worst shipping disaster.

Speaking in Rabaul during the weekend, Dr Marat who is currently on compassionate leave, said he has advised through the acting Minister for Justice and Attorney General and leader of government business Moses Maladina to set up an entirely independent investigation team.

“Not investigators from the Department of Transport because I don’t trust the integrity of the composition of the membership of that investigation team. I don’t trust it. I have my own reasons,” he said.

Dr Marat also said he has instructed Mr Maladina to advice the Prime Minister to set up a Commission of Inquiry.

“One of the terms of reference on this Commission of Inquiry into the shipping disaster is to inquire into members of the travelling public here, how they are treated on board these vessels when they travel to Kimbe or Lae. Some of them stand all night. For the whole duration of the trip, they stand. There is no place to sleep because all space is taken up by other passengers. I think it is time the travelling public especially in Rabaul District be treated as human beings and not as animals,” he said.

He said they will set up an independent investigation team for the time being and later a Commission of Inquiry.

“That is the power given under the Attorney General Act through the Attorney General; he can issue at his own discretion any advice to any minister, to do what is just in these circumstances,” he said.

Dr Marat added that from information he had collected so far, the vessel MV Rabaul Queen was not in good working condition.

“I heard that it had some wet cement or there was a hole or something like that and yet the boat was allowed to sail. That is clear negligence.

“The other reasons were that one of the engines were not functioning, the ship was overloaded and the weather was very bad,” Dr Marat said.

Dr Marat said his conclusion of the manner in which people have been allowed to travel on this ships, was that people were trying to make money at the expense of the safety of the travelling public.

“I accept the fact that people need to travel. You cannot put a stop to that. But the means of transportation must always be top class. They must treat the normal travelling public as human beings not as animals,” he said.

THE sinking of mv Rabaul Queen is Papua New Guinea’s worst ma­ritime disaster. I sympathise with those who have lost loved ones.

While nature may have had a hand in it, the disaster could have been avoided as there was a forecast of strong winds and high seas.

The vessel should have been grounded or the management could have reduced the number of passengers so that in the case of disaster, everyone would have a life jacket and life rafts would be able to accommodate all passengers. I wonder if there were enough life jackets for every passenger.

I believe the shipping company should take responsibility and stop blaming Mother Nature.

Since strong winds and high seas had been forecasted, it could have taken preventative mea­sures.  Instead of being blinded by profit, it should have put its “social responsibility” cap on and made the right decision. What is a couple of days’ loss in business compared to a hundred lives lost?

Mother Nature will always be unforgiving, furious and harsh, but humans – the most intelligent beings on earth – should always be prepared. More so humans who have had training and schooling to make the right choices.

THE passenger list handed out by the owners of the ill-fated mv Rabaul Queen does not contain the names of the majority of passengers who boarded it from Buka.

There were only six passengers listed as travelling from Buka, in North Solomons, although survivors confirmed that there were a lot more Bougainvilleans who boarded the vessel there because it was first port of call.

The ship sank last Thursday in heavy seas off Finschhafen, Morobe province. So far, 246 survivors had been brought to Lae by rescue teams.

Attempts to get the exact number of people from the shipping company who might have been on board have not been successful. The company had closed its offices in Buka, Kokopo, Kimbe and Lae. It has refused to answer queries from distraught relatives, friends, survivors and journalists.

The manifest was released by the company last Saturday but did not have listing of people who got on the ship at Buka, the first port of call.

Only those who were travelling from the other two ports of call in Rabaul and Kimbe were on the list. The listing had 230 people travelling from Rabaul which was the second port of call, while 145 boarded the vessel at  Kimbe. All these passengers totalling 375 were listed as bound for Lae. The vessel was licensed to carry only 310 passengers.

Seasoned travellers who frequently use the inter-island shipping services said many passengers got on the boats at the last minute without purchasing tickets at the port of departure. But they pay at the port of disembarkation.  Many who were on the boat could not have had their names on the shipping company’s official manifest.

This meant that many who are still missing would not have had their names on the shipping company’s official documentation and might not be accounted for unless they had alerted relatives, friends or guardians to expect them in Lae.

Adult passengers travelling from Buka to Lae pay K440. Those from Rabaul pay K350 while travellers from Kimbe pay K210 for the trip to Lae.

The provincial disaster office in Lae confirmed that the mv Rabaul Queen began its trip from Buka. The six people on the manifest included four adults and two children. It would have brought the “official” total number of passengers travelling last Thursday to 381.

Search in the provincial waters of Morobe is still continuing with teams stretching their area to the southernmost parts of Oro (Northern) and Milne Bay.

Four bodies retrieved so far – three adult females and a five-year-old boy – were found towards Milne Bay waters. This has prompted search and rescue operations to also move into the area with two boats and a plane involved in the search.

THE survivors and relatives of those who died in the mv Rabaul Queen disaster will petition vessel owner Peter Sharp to take full responsibility for the tragedy.

Yesterday at the Morobe provincial disaster and emergency unit office on Markham Road, the grieving relatives gathered and voiced their demands.

They wanted Sharp to address them in person rather than sending his lawyers or managers. Among the demands:

• Arrange tugboats, barges and helicopters for urgent search and rescue;
• Meet all cost of survivors and various haus krais of the relatives;
• Meet all the repatriation cost for students as the academic year began yesterday; and
• Pay compensation for all the lives that have been lost and for the loss of property.

After being told that the Australian search and rescue team on site would withdraw soon, the relatives said Sharp had to take 100% responsibility for the search until all bodies were recovered.

The relatives of passengers on the ill-fated vessel travelled to Lae from five highlands and Momase provinces and are staying day and night at the disaster office.

A mother, Mary Vura Dubery, who lost her eldest daughter Nemika and her granddaughter, said:

“We want their bodies here to give them a decent burial.

“Five days have gone and if any survivors were swept ashore to the islands or beaches by waves, they will starve and dehydrate. They will need immediate assistance.

“Sharp needs to come out and respond immediately.”

They appealed to business houses in Lae to help continue the search.

The National Government has announced that an independent investigation will be launched to look into the ill-fated ship tragedy that claimed many lives last week, reports the Post Courier.

While responding to a petition presented by more than 230 survivors in Lae last Friday, Minister for National Planning and Monitoring Sam Basil said Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has given the green light for an investigation.

In the petition, the Rabaul Queen survivors demanded amongst other things the shipping company, Rabaul Shipping’s vessels to be audited, shipping operations cease and the survivors compensated for the loss of their valuable properties and loved ones.

They also demanded that the owner of the shipping vessel and her crew members to be immediately arrested and charged with manslaughter.

The survivors claimed that the ship was not sea worthy but it was overloaded with passengers and cargos, forcing it to capsize during the rough sea last week.

They demanded that since the shipping company had knowingly operated an unseaworthy ship, its captain, crew and the owner should be arrested and charged with manslaughter.

Meanwhile, Mr Basil said an independent investigation team from New Zealand will be engaged to carry out the investigation.

He said the investigation will also audit all ships belonging to Rabaul Shipping and establish the cause of the ill-fated tragedy at Finschhafen.

And the ship is believed to have completely submerged with no sight from where it went down nine nautical miles off Finschaffen.

Reports reaching the Post- Courier have stated that the vessel was overloaded allegedly carrying more than 700 passengers on board, (400 when it left Buka, more than 100 got on in Rabaul and about 360 from Kavieng and Kimbe) not the initial 350 that had been repeatedly quoted by the media.

Chief Executive Officer of National Maritime and Safety Authority (NMSA), Captain Nurur Rahman, had indicated the ship was overloaded adding that its certificate allowed for only 310 passengers. Rabaul Shipping initially advised there were 350 passengers and 12 crew members on board but survivors are now testifying that there were hundreds more on board that fateful voyage.

NMSA has also advised the total number of passengers is sketchy because there was no proper manifest from Buka, Rabaul and Kimbe apart from the list they have and besides many passengers especially in Buka and other centres bought their tickets at the wharf.

Many survivors rescued and recovering in Lae have confirmed this and were also denying both local and foreign media reports that there were about 350 passengers’ destined for Lae before it sank last Thursday.

The Post-Courier confirmed that unlike passengers travelling on aeroplanes, certainly there will be no passenger manifest released to confirm the right number of passengers on board the vessel, including survivors and the ones missing.

More and more survivors are pasting on social media groups and facebook and from survivors interviewed, the vessel was obviously overloaded.

This is another story published on facebook by a relative of a survivor:

“From my younger brother, who was on board MV Rabaul Queen when disaster struck.
“There were actually 780 passengers on board – 420 from Rabaul/Kavieng /Buka and 360 from Kimbe.
“Mostly young children, mothers and students. There weren’t any emergency procedures or demonstrations when they got on the ship and the shipping agency didn’t limit passenger intakes.

By Grace Tiden

CHILDREN under the age of three including infants were not included in the ill-fated MV Rabaul Queen passenger list as they usually travel free of charge, reports the Post Courier.

According to the vessel’s passenger list which was released to East New Britain authorities over the weekend, there were 381 people on board the MV Rabaul Queen.

However, the number of people did not include the crew and children under the age of three that may have boarded the vessel.

Out of the 381 people, there were over 40 children above the age of three and almost 100 students were listed.

A total of 148 passengers including those who had traveled in from Buka had bought one-way tickets from Rabaul to Lae at the Rabaul Shipping headquarters and 88 passengers had bought tickets at the company’s ticket office in Kokopo.  This did not include the passengers traveling from Buka and Rabaul to Kimbe.  Around 145 were listed on the company’s passenger list in Kimbe bound for Lae.  Rabaul Shipping gave the list to the East New Britain Provincial Disaster Committee after a meeting last Friday.

The disaster committee had stepped in to assist family and relatives of those who had been on board the Rabaul Queen and had asked the company to release the list.

The committee has set up two counseling centres in Rabaul and Kokopo so family and relatives of the disaster victims could get information and counseling.

ENB Provincial Administrator and chairman of the ENB Provincial Disaster Committee Aquila Tubal went on air on NBC East New Britain last Friday to confirm the disaster and say sorry to the families of the victims.

Together with his other committee members, Mr Tubal also announced the set up of the two counseling centres and told the people of the province that the disaster office was working closely with the Morobe Disaster Office and Rabaul Shipping to address the aftermath of the disaster.

An officer from the disaster office was now in Lae to confirm the number of ENB survivors and those who were still missing where he will relate the information back to the ENB Provincial Disaster Committee.

The Autonomous Bougainville Government has dissassociated itself from activities of ex combatants and relatives of Mv Rabaul Queen passengers now holding 3 ships owned by Peter Sharp in Buka, reports New Dawn radio.

Chief ABG legal officer,CHRIS SIRIOSI told a meeting of relatives and ex combatants in Buka that the ABG was not involved in the holding of ships.

He said that the action was by relatives and ex combatants who are demanding to see PETER SHARP in Buka.

Chris Siriosi said that the ABG was interested in helping Bougainvilleans who were affected by the accident.

Meanwhile the Bougainville Disaster office is operating 24 hours to give information on the accident.

About 170 passengers were rescued late last Thursday in Magarida, Central province, after bad weather forced a ship to abandon its planned trip to Port Moresby, reports the Sunday Chronicle.

The ship, Kimbe Queen,  also reported to be a sister ship of Rabaul Queen that sank off Finschhafen last Thursday morning, was en route to Port Moresby from Alotau carrying mostly students when the skipper forced the ship to take refuge at Walai Island off Kupiano.

Captain Tommy Joseph was reported to have slowed the speed of the ship and avoided a certain disaster that would have seen two major shipping disasters happening within a few hours of each other. The skipper then navigated the ship safely into the leeside of the island.

Continuous bad weather has forced trhe ship to be stranded at Kupiano and the passengers are safe and well,

While most of the passengers have since travelled onwards to Port Moresby by road, about 27 still remain stranded with four crew on board awaiting company representatives to arrive from Port Moresby to refund their monies so that they can pay for their PMV fares to the city.

“Ol wokmeri blong Rabaul Shipping long Kimbe office tokim PPC long Kimbe olsem 668 pasindia kalap long Rabaul Queen ya. Ol tok tupla ol painim ol tirip igo long Morobe patrol Post long tube na ol rescuim ol long ples. Mi kisim stori long ol polisman blong Kimbe.”

My family and I are regular travellers on the Star Shipping and I can bet my life that the above statement is correct. Star ships has time and time again shown no regard for the safety of its passengers. I often travelled between Lae and Oro with hardly any space even on the deck to move around. Star ships has always put profits before safety.

The tragedy of the Rabaul Queen was avoidable but the Management of Star Shipping knew the risks they were taking by taking 368 passengers  more than the ship was registered to carry. This is criminal negligence on the part of Peter Sharp who owns the vessel and he should be dealt with as a criminal. I will be too happy  to come before a Royal Commission and tell the inquiry of my experiences on their ships.

ABG president chief John Momis this afternoon called for a full inquiry into the boat accident that has claimed so many lives of Bougainvilleans and other fellow Papua New Guineans.

He made these comment when sending his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives at this drastic accident.

Mr.Momis said that the probe into this disaster would determine the cause of this accident and those found guilty should face the full force of the law.

ABG President said that he fully supported the call by Prime Minister Peter Oniel to set up an inquiry into the boat accident.

He said the ABG plans to start up education institutions on Bougainville so that Bougainvillean students can study on Bougainville instead of taking risks looking for education institutions in other provinces.

Mr.Momis said that the ABG has plans to purchase its own passenger boat to serve its own people.

New Dawn Fm understands that the President wants the administrator to allow some funds to assist families trying to locate their relatives.

Bougainville disaster office has released that 46 passengers from Bougainville were on this boat between Kimbe and Lae.

I have brought this up before this tragedy occurred, but I will bring it up again. Between both Peter and Hamish Sharp we have seen at least 3 sunken passenger ships.

It’s time for these rouge operators to be shutdown charged and convicted, their blatant disregard for safety over profits has gone on for far to long.

Hamish Sharp should never have been appointed chairman of NMSA and he should have been removed when MV Sealark caught fire and sunk in Lae, followed by the San Pedro between Alotau and Moresby.

Star Shipping (Peter Sharp) and Bismark Marine (Hamish Sharp) have shocking safety records and you can hardly say they have been regulated when they themselves oversea the watchdog responsible.

Investigations, followed by charges and convictions should now take place followed by asset forfeiture and prison time.

Further public comments from social media sites:

Now Peter Dick head will ANSWER for this…..serves him right for putting out the appropriate CRUISE LINER in 2008. He was so selfish to insist that only “his” ships operate without competition. PNG ought to know that those ship Queens are actually Ferries custom made to travel only short distances with a limited number of passengers. Em wanla KKK man! tingim money na safety regulations and the lives of people nogat!! F***kng SHIT!!!

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People like Peter Sharp see the the difficulties of this country as opportunities to make money of struggling people. He is in the same category as Simon Wild the owner of Airlines PNG.

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And just to add salt onto the wound i overheard on the Karai Radio a caller complaining that another ship belonging to Peter Sharp is about to go on a voyage from Madang to East Sepik tomorrow….Can someone pls hold him by the collar and knock some sense into PS…Goodness people lost their lives at sea and are still in shock….I say there needs be an investigation and if need be people like PS who to me seem like more interested in making money than putting the people’s interest first needs to be kicked out of the country…

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My brother was one of the survivor however our six year old niece never made it. She died in his arms under the waters. My deep deep condolence to the familes of those that died at sea.

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Where is the Freaking Ship Manifest???????

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bro I’m into tears seeing your post by imagining your niece die in your brothers arms where he is helpless and can’t do much but just to see her passing under the water in his arms.

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just got news that they didn’t make it, both my lovely lil sist and her son didn’t make it.

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Shouldn’t our squabbling Governments be rushing to the assistance of those involved in the sunken boat tragedy? Do they even know we have a disaster involving mostly school children?

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They should not lie about their so-called manifest. I hear, they are known for overbooking and overloading

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I just spoke to the brother of a survivor and his sister told him that the life jackets were never given out. It was still locked away and the life boats, some of them had holes.

Amongst other things, people claim that the boat is not sea worthy and the crew had not considrered the safety of passengers. The owners of the shipping company have not released any official record of the passenger list (manifest) but one survivor of the accident claimed about 600 people boarded the ferry when it departed Kimbe on Wednesday.

Police have been asked to treat the accident as “criminal” in nature due to the negligence of the company to overload people on board.

Almost half of that number many of them school students have been found alive following the disaster and the rescue efforts yesterday. The other half of people , mainly women, young children and some elderly people have not been accounted for so far and authorities believe they may have perished in the rough seas when the ship went down.

Minister Basil promised that the Government will be bringing in an independent investigation team from abroad to probe the accident similar to the Tongan ferry disaster last year.

Basil said the National Executive Council will meet next Monday to discuss the issue while, K500 thousand kina will be released immediatley to the Morobe Disaster Office to conduct searches for any more survivors.

The search today was called off due to strong wind and rough seas in the area. An appeal has been made to people in maritime provinces and coastal areas to look out for any bodies that may be washed ashore in the next few days.

MV Kris which went down in Cape Gloscester in West New Britain and MV Sarasong which sank at St George Channel in New Ireland some years back are owned by Peter Sharp. MV Rabaul Queen is the third fatality of Mr Sharp.

“There werent any emergency procedures or demonstrations when they got on the ship and the shipping agency didn’t limit passenger intakes.  Due to the bad weather and high seas the ship tipped over towards the right hand side and ONLY the fit and the ones outside the landing jumped off for their lifes, the ones in the cabins couldn’t due to time limitations and panic. It took 2 minutes for the ship to sink. The first 109 survivors was rescued by a north korean/mongolian ocean liner on its way to Australia. The rest was from a local boat. None of it was Australian Army or PNG navy nor the disaster authority boats. The newspapers raft boat pictures not all true.”

“I’ve travelled from POM to Alotau and I have never ever seen some sort of ship’s manifest. There is no sort of roll call done when u leave port and arrive at your destination. No safety talks or no word on where life jackts, life boats and safety gear are located. BIG ZERO. But we  keep travelling on these boats coz it is cheaper than the airlines! Its lyk they shud put up a HUGE sign on the boat which reads “BOARD AT YOUR OWN RISK”…

“There’s more than meets the eye. Ask those in authorities why Rabaul Shipping (Peter Sharp) continues 2 operate despite all these risky activitis taking place…. look @ Condor…lapun na hamas yias m bin ron (in d past)?? We PNGeans tolerate too much of these risky behaviour, knowing its not right…like over loading..”

A survivors relative:

My Uncle …with his wife, 2 daugthers and his only son. He called this morning and said that his wife could only save the girls leaving his son in the bottom cabin.