Raja Ampat claims another liveaboard victim

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Sorry to hear the bad news, fortunately everyone survived.
 
We were on the Indo Siren when we recieved the stranded guests. I can confirm that there were no injuries. The guests were clearly shaken, but ok, which is the most important thing. It really was a pretty little boat and well now it will be a pretty little wreck. It also is not too deep which means it accessible for recreational dives.
 
I've been sitting on this news for two days! I heard the stories and then received an email from the operator (as did all agents of the fleet so that we could contact our customers with bookings on the vessel before the news was made public).

There is an ongoing investigation, but it is suspected that the fire started at the location of a clothes dryer on board; the crew were unable to extinguish it, and the fire spread throughout the boat. The divers were in the water at the time, so abandoning the boat and deploying life rafts was made somewhat simpler, though of course passengers' personal effects were lost with the vessel.

As AlMitch said, the Indo Siren went immediately to pick up the divers and the crew. And then a speedboat joined up with them to transfer the divers to Sorong, where they were provided with clothing and a place to stay until they could be transferred to Jakarta. Once in the capital, they were able to get emergency travel documents from their respective missions and procede homeward.

It's a terrible blow, but at least there was only loss of material goods and there were no injuries.
 
Hi All Scuba Board members

This is Susie from the team at Worldwide Dive and Sail.

It is true that there was a very sad and serious incident on the S/Y Mandarin Siren. We have waited until now to make an official statement regarding the incident as we wished to contact all of our guests and agents who had bookings beforehand, so our apologies if information on the incident has been lacking. My colleague Don was able to post a brief response on the Wetpixel site however the full details on the cause of the incident are still unknown.

We have posted an official statement on our website at S/Y Mandarin Siren our Indonesia luxury liveaboard dive boat

But i would just like to reiterate how saddened we all are about the incident but we remain extremely grateful that there were no injuries to our guests or crew and we are very proud of our crew for their handling of a very stressful and difficult situation.

Thanks also to the crew and guests of the S/Y Indo Siren who were on hand to offer their support also.

-Al Mitch thanks so much i hope you and Keri were able to enjoy the rest of your time in Raja Ampat
 
just received this email from World Wide Dive and Sail

We are very sad to have to announce a very unfortunate incident on the S/Y Mandarin Siren.

During a recent diving trip, in the Raja Ampat region of Indonesia, a fire broke out below decks while the guests were on a morning dive. The origin of the fire is not yet fully confirmed but we believe that it was caused by an electrical fault of the tumble dryer in the laundry room and quickly spread to the engine room. The guests were not aboard at the time and therefore were never in any danger. Our crew did everything they could but in the end were unable to contain the blaze and were forced to abandon the vessel which was subsequently lost.

No one was hurt in the accident and for that we are incredibly grateful -- no matter how great the loss to us it could have been very much worse.

Our other Indonesian vessel, the S/Y Indo Siren, was very near at the time of the accident and steamed immediately to pick up the guests and crew from the tender. A speedboat was then dispatched to pick everyone up from the S/Y Indo Siren and return them as quickly as possible to Sorong where they were provided with fresh clothing, accommodation and assistance from our staff. The next day they were flown to Jakarta where fleet owner Frank and the team in Indonesia were there to meet them. All the guests were assisted in obtaining emergency travel documents and re-arranging travel and they subsequently flew home to be with their families over New Year.

We have endeavored to inform all our of guests who had made bookings on the S/Y Mandarin Siren, whether booked directly with us or through a booking agent. If you had a booking and have not yet been in contact please email or call us or your agent as soon as you are able.

For all of us at Worldwide Dive and Sail this is a shock and a great loss, but as said above it could have been very much worse. We are very thankful that none of the guests or the crew were injured or worse.

As a fleet we will continue to offer diving liveaboard safaris throughout Indonesia aboard the S/Y Indo Siren.

Thank you very much indeed for your concern and also many thanks to everyone else who has sent their condolences in the past days.

Best wishes for 2012 from all at the Siren Fleet
 
Was also posted about in the Indonesia forum, including a first hand report from a passenger on the Indo Siren which went to pick people up after the abandon ship.


A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Threads from different forums on the same event have all been merged here.
 
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