Capsizing Ships might become the norm.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

In less than a week, I have noted 3 ships capsizing, 1 in Baja, MX, July 4th.....another in Jayapura, Papua and the most recent in Russia in the Volga River.

Across the globe we hear more and more stories of fisherman who can't bring their boats out to do their work.  The seas are angry and unpredictable.  Here''s another story of a fishing boat carrying 27 tourists with 16 Mexican crew members struggling in the sea when the ship capsized.

California residents rescued in fatal boat accident in Mexico

July 4, 2011 |  1:33 pm

   

23

One person was reported dead and seven others missing Monday afternoon after a fishing boat carrying 27 U.S. tourists and 16 Mexican crew members capsized in rough seas in the Sea of Cortez, officials said.

The 27 tourists, most of them from California, were aboard the charter vessel Erick when a sudden storm struck the area about 2:30 a.m., hurling people into the ocean in the vicinity of San Luis Island, about 60 miles south of the Baja California port of San Felipe, the Mexican Navy said in a statement. The body water in which the ship capsized is also known as the Gulf of California.

View Capsized vessel in a larger map

"The weather was calm, and then a strong wind came,"  Dora Winkler, a spokeswoman with the Port of San Felipe, told the Los Angeles Times.

Some of the first people rescued -- two tourists and the boat's cook -- were plucked from the water by a Mexican fishing boat, according to Winkler.

All of the 16 Mexican crew members were rescued, she said. The tourist who died was only identified as an adult male. Initial reports said six people were missing; officials later raised the number to seven.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter from San Diego was assisting the Mexican navy as rescue crews scoured the area for survivors, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Pamela Boehland.

She said the Coast Guard was told by the Mexican Navy that most of the passengers were from Northern California and that one was from Port Angeles, Wash. The search was launched after one of the victims swam to shore and alerted Mexican officials, Boehland said.

"He swam to shore and actually walked to the nearest location," Boehland said, adding that she was unsure whether it was a town or village.

Mexican officials said all of the survivors were wearing life jackets. They were taken to local hospitals and appeared to be in good condition, the Mexican Navy said.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/07/fishing-boat-sinks-sa...

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/state-and-regional/eight-confir...

Eight confirmed dead as boat capsizes on Table Rock Lake near Branson, authorities say

NEAR BRANSON, Mo. • Eight people are dead and an unknown number of others are missing after a tourist boat capsized on Table Rock Lake on Thursday night, the Stone County sheriff said.

Sheriff Doug Rader said that seven people were taken by ambulance from the scene where the Duck Boat sank.

"It capsized and sank," said of the tourist boat. 

He added that the disaster had apparently been caused by a powerful storm that moved through.

Rader said a deputy from his department had been on the boat went it went under. He credited the deputy with rescuing some of those onboard.

He also said that the rescue and recovery would be continuing overnight.

People who had relatives on the boat were urged to go to Branson City Hall to await reports.

Officials with the Southern Stone County Fire Protection District confirmed that several injured people were taken to hospitals and the coroner has been called out for people who have died.

The accident reportedly happened after a severe line of thunderstorms rolled through the area. Officials noted there was "storm debris" around the area.

The Southern Stone County Fire Protection District spokesman Eric Nielsen said the boat, which he described as a "tourist-type vessel," is under the water and cannot be seen from the surface.

The Southern Stone County Fire Protection District said at about 8:20 p.m. that crews from several agencies and divers were on scene and that several people had been taken to a hospital.

The fire district said the Branson Belle showboat is being used in the rescue but was not involved.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.news.com.au/world/breaking-news/boat-with-160-migrants-...

Nineteen dead as boat sinks off Cyprus

Rescuers are still searching for 25 people after 19 migrants died when a boat sank off the coast of northern Cyprus.

ReutersJuly 18, 201811:55pm

Nineteen people died when a boat carrying 150 migrants sank off the coast of northern Cyprus and rescuers were searching for 25 other people, according to Turkey's coast guard.

It said 103 migrants were rescued by boats and helicopters of the Turkish and northern Cypriot coast guards, helped by commercial boats in the area, from the sunken boat some 30km off the north Cyprus coast.

One rescued person was in critical condition and has been brought to northern Cyprus by helicopter, the coast guard said. It did not say where the other rescued passengers had been taken.

A Panama-flagged commercial ship spotted the migrant boat some 25 nautical miles from Turkey's southern province of Antalya and alerted the coast guard on Wednesday morning, the statement said.

In 2015, Turkey became one of the main launch points for more than a million migrants taking the dangerous sea route to the European Union, many fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.

A 2016 deal between Turkey and the European Union sharply reduced the flow of refugees into the bloc, after thousands died crossing from Turkey to Greek islands a few miles offshore.

From January to May this year at least 26 migrants died trying to cross to Europe from Turkey, according to coast guard statistics.

Mediterranean arrivals to the bloc, including refugees making the longer and more perilous crossing from north Africa to Italy, stood at 172,301 in 2017, down from 362,753 in 2016 and 1,015,078 in 2015, according to data from the United Nations.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://news.sky.com/story/dozens-missing-after-tourist-boats-capsi...

Forty-nine missing in Thailand after tourist boat capsizes off Phuket

Officials had earlier issued a warning of severe weather in the area, including heavy rain and strong winds.

20:00, UK, Thursday 05 July 2018

Image: Phuket in southern Thailand is a hot spot for tourists

Forty-nine people are missing after a tourist boat capsized off the popular island resort of Phuket in Thailand, according to officials.

Having earlier reported that at least seven people were missing after the vessel overturned in the Andaman Sea, the governor of the island has now upgraded the total.

The boat was carrying 97 passengers.

Governor Norraphat Plodthong revealed that only 48 people - all from a group of Chinese tourists - had been rescued so far, with all the others unaccounted for.

He earlier said that 90 people had been rescued from the boat, which was returning to Phuket from the island of Koh Racha when it came up against rough waves in the early evening.

Local police commander Teerapol Tipcharoen said the recovery operation would resume on Friday morning, and a relief operation centre has been set up at Chalong Bay.

In a separate incident in the same area at around the same time, another boat carrying 39 people - reportedly Chinese and European tourists - also capsized.

and another link:

https://m.news24.com/World/News/dozens-of-chinese-tourists-missing-...

Dozens of Chinese tourists missing in boat capsize off Thailand's Phuket

18:10 05/07/2018

Phuket - Dozens of mainly Chinese passengers are missing after a boat capsized as high winds whipped up rough seas off the Thai tourist island of Phuket, officials said late on Thursday.

The boat was carrying around 90 passengers when it keeled over after it was hit by massive waves, prompting a rescue operation that stretched into the night and left authorities scrambling to react.

The governor of southern Phuket, Noraphat Plodthong, said 49 people - more than half of the passengers - were still "being helped" as rescue boats rushed to the scene.

A second provincial official, requesting anonymity, told AFP rescuers they "are working to find" the 49 missing.

Television footage taken at a pier in Phuket showed stunned tourists huddling in blankets, while several women cried as medics tended to the injured.

The boat was returning to Phuket from Koh Racha at around 16:00 (09:00 GMT) when a storm hit, according to the captain, who identified himself as Somjing Boontham in a televised interview.

He said the boat was hit by five metre-high waves, which flooded the boat and started to slowly keel over, prompting him to warn passengers to put on life jackets and trigger inflatable life rafts.

"So I sent someone to them to wear life jackets... They were all Chinese visitors - apart from two farang," he said using Thai vernacular for westerners, adding around half the passengers were unaccounted for.

Phuket is a magnet for overseas visitors including Western sun-seekers and Chinese tourists who will make up the bulk of the 35 million people expected to visit the kingdom this year.

Governor Noraphat said Phuket officials had issued a weather warning on Wednesday alerting the public about impending storms.

"There were high winds this evening," he said, adding a further 10 pleasure boats were stranded at sea and being attended to by rescue boats from the police and navy.

Others who made it to shore were covered in blankets and being tended to by medics at a pier in Phuket, several women cried and shouted in what sounded like Chinese.

Two other separate boat capsizes were reported in the same area on Thursday evening.

A yacht called the Senerita carrying 39 people also capsized in the high seas, the officials added.

All of the passengers in both cases were pulled from the sea alive.

Photographs circulating on social media showed soaked and exhausted passengers - most of them Asian - in life jackets being pulled on inflatable rafts to safety.

It was not immediately clear which boat they belonged to.

Thailand has a sketchy health and safety record and accidents are common on its roads and busy waterways - especially during the monsoon season which is now biting.

The kingdom is already in the global spotlight for a dramatic rescue mission in the north of the country, after 12 boys and their football coach were trapped in a cave complex.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/dead-sinking-ferry-r...

At least 12 dead as sinking ferry run aground off Sulawesi

• By The Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Jul 3, 2018, 7:15 AM ET

At least 12 people were killed and a frantic rescue operation was underway Tuesday off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi for dozens of passengers of a sinking passenger ferry run aground by its captain in a desperate bid to save lives.

The latest in a succession of boat tragedies in Indonesia comes on the same day that officials called off a search for 164 people presumed drowned when a wooden ferry sank two weeks ago in a deep volcanic crater lake on the island of Sumatra.

South Sulawesi province police spokesman Dicky Sondani said the Lestari Maju ferry was about 200 meters (yards) from shore. It had 139 passengers on board, according to its manifest, as well as cars, trucks and motorcycles.

Photos distributed via the National Disaster Mitigation Agency showed passengers perched on the listing vessel as others descended into the heavy seas using ropes hung over its side. Most appeared to be wearing lifejackets

The agency said 12 people were dead, including two children aged 2 and 3.

Sondani said the captain steered the 48.5-meter-long (159-foot-long) vessel toward shore after it began sinking on a voyage from the port of Bira to Selayar island, just south of the main Sulawesi island.

Director-General of Sea Transportation Agus Purnomo said in a statement that the captain's actions were helping the rescue effort.

More than 30 people have been rescued and eight of them were being treated in a hospital, said Selayar district chief Basli Ali.

"We are still trying to evacuate the passengers with help from the police, army, search and rescue agency as well as locals," Ali said.

Ferry tragedies are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, with weak enforcement of safety regulations often to blame. The Lake Toba sinking was the worst in about a decade.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.naijanews.com/2018/07/02/one-dead-18-others-missing-as-...

One Dead, 18 Others Missing As Boat Capsize

July 2 2018

Boat Conveying 44 Illegal Immigrant Capsizes, Leaving One Dead, 18 Missing

A woman has been confirmed dead, while 18 persons  have been declared missing following a boat which capsized while conveying dozens of Indonesian illegal migrants in the South China Sea off the Malaysian coast on Sunday.

Senior coast guard official, Sanifah Yusof confirmed that the boat with 44 people on board capsized Sunday night off the southern state of Johor as it headed for Malaysia from the Indonesian island of Batam.

He also said a woman was found drowned while another 25 people were rescued by the authorities.

“There are 18 people left (missing), we are still doing the search and rescue,”

Sanifah believed the boat was overloaded and ran into bad weather.

A coast guard statement said nearly 150 officers from various government agencies with seven boats and ships as well as a helicopter were searching an area of 150 square nautical miles.

Indonesian illegal migrants often make a perilous journey in small rickety boats to Malaysia in search of work, mainly in construction and agriculture.

More than a dozen Indonesians died when their boat sank off the Malaysian coast due to rough seas in January 2017.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.thenorthlines.com/chilika-lake-boat-capsize-toll-rises-t...

Chilika lake boat capsize toll rises to six

By Northlines -

June 18, 2018

Bhubaneswar, Jun 17
The death toll in the boat tragedy at Chilika lake in Odisha rose to six on Sunday after four more bodies were fished out by rescue personnel.
The boat ferrying 16 people had capsized on Saturday evening after a thunderstorm lashed Asia’s biggest brackishwater lake.
Fire personnel managed to rescue 10 persons and recovered the bodies of a minor girl and her mother on Saturday night. The bodies of the four who were missing were found on Sunday morning.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the kin of the deceased and free medical treatment for the injured.
The mishap occurred at 6 pm when the boat from Ranapur area of Nayagarh district was returning from Kalijai island to Balugaon, chief fire officer Sukanta Sethi said.
Most of the passengers were locals who had gone to Maa Kalijai temple.
Rabi Narayan Das, who lost his wife Sradhhanjali and daughter Pramodini, said, “After we had darshan of Kalijai Goddess, the boatman asked us to hurry as it had started getting cloudy. While returning, our boat overturned. I could see my wife and daughter struggling in the water but was helpless.”
Additional chief executive of Chilika Development Authority, Sasmita Lenka said the boat should have left before 5 pm as there was a warning for thunderstorm.
An official said though the boats operating in the lake were licensed, many of them were not fit to be on water. “In many cases, the centre of gravity was not correct. Many of the boats have very old engines which stop in the midst and have to be hauled by another boat,” said the official.
There were no life jackets too in the boat. Officials said the water was hardly 6–7-ft deep at the place where it capsized. “The boat had no anchor as well, which could have helped the boatman steady the boat during inclement weather,” said the official.
In 2016, four persons had drowned to death when a boat capsized in Chilika lake. After the tragedy, the state government had amended the Odisha Boat Rules making life jackets mandatory for all boats. It also made it mandatory for all passengers travelling in a licensed boat to be covered by life insurance.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/one-dead-dozens-missing-i...

One dead, dozens missing in Lake Toba boat capsize

6 18 2018

JAKARTA • A boat carrying some 80 passengers capsized in Lake Toba, North Sumatra, yesterday afternoon, with reports that at least one person had drowned.

The medan.tribunnews.com website said the incident occurred in bad weather not long after the KM Sinar Baru sailed from Simanindo at 5pm on its way to Tigaras, in Simalungun.

The boat capsized at 5.30pm. Rescue vessels have been deployed but bad weather is hindering the operation. About three dozen people have been rescued so far.

The hotels on the island in Lake Toba - the world's largest volcanic lake, which is 11/2 times the size of Singapore - were packed for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays, Indonesian media reported.

"The victim is a woman," National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a written statement yesterday evening.

Mr Sutopo said three passengers were rescued by the KMP Sumut 2 and two others by the KMP Sumut 1. The condition of another 14 rescued by the Sinta Damai was not yet known, while 15 others were reportedly saved at Simanindo Port.

THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.indiatoday.in/pti-feed/story/mh-boat-capsize-1242023-20...

MH-BOAT-CAPSIZE

• May 25, 2018
• UPDATED 22:04 IST

15 people rescued as floating restaurant capsizes off Mumbai

Mumbai, May 25 (PTI) Fifteen people were rescued after a yacht converted into a floating restaurant today capsized in the Arabian Sea near the Bandra Worli Sea Link in Mahim, a senior disaster management control room official said.

He said that the Fire Brigade received a call at around 6:20pm, from a person who was passing on the Bandra Worli Sea Link, about the boat facing turbulence.

The message was passed on to the Bandra police which, along with the coastal police, rescued 15 people.

A Bandra police official said that 15 people had been rescued from the boat which belonged to a company called ART.

A Coast Guard official said that the force had not received any SOS about the incident.

Vivekanand Gupta, general secretary of Mumbai unit of the BJP alleged that the floating restaurant was a fishing trawler illegally converted into a party vessel.

"It (floating hotel) was a fishing trawler illegally converted into party yacht Avior operated by Ocean Blue at Gateway of India. It later shifted to Bandra Worli sealink after it was renamed as Ark Deck Bar," Gupta said.

He demanded that police arrest those operating the floating hotel.

Some people took to Twitter to raise concerns about the safety of such floating hotels.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/congo-river-boat-ca...

Boat capsizes on Congo river killing at least 49 people

Vessel travelling at night and without lights tips over

At least 49 people have died after a boat tipped over on the Congo River in the country's northwest, according to Congolese officials.

The boat was taking people from a village to the city of Mbandaka on Thursday but capsized, Tshuapa province’s vice governor, Richard Mboyo Iluka, said.

He said a team has been dispatched to investigate and determine the exact death toll.

Mr Mboyo Iluka said he did not know how many people were on the boat or how many may have survived, and a cause of the accident remains unknown.

But he added that the boat had been travelling by night and did not have lights..  

The Congo River is the second longest in Africa, and, with a maximum depth of more than 220 metres, the world’s deepest.

After two tourists are kidnapped, is it safe to travel to the DRC?

In a country with few roads or railways, it is a vital trade route and the best way for many people to traverse the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Boats on the river are often overcrowded and accidents are common.  

Forty-two villagers who were fleeing violence between an armed group and security forces drowned last month after their boat capsized on the Ubangi, a tributary of the Congo River.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/04/30/world/social-issues-wo...

At least 15 migrants die after boat sinks off Algerian coast after leaving Morocco

ALGIERS – At least 15 African migrants died on Sunday when their boat trying to reach Europe capsized off the Algerian coast, a coast guard official said.

Coast guard and civil protection authorities rescued 19 of 34 people on board, state news agency APS said.

The boat sank off the coast of Oran, a city some 450 km west of the capital Algiers, the official told Ennahar TV station, adding that the boat had departed from Morocco.

No details on nationalities were provided.

Last week, Algeria’s interior ministry said the North African country was suffering from an influx of illegal migrants from sub-Saharan countries as Europe had made boat departures more difficult from Libya and other countries.