Meli Sea Bus ya Azam Imekwama Baharini Nungwi!

UPDATE:  Meli ya Sea Bus ilikuwa inatoka Pemba kwenda Zanzibar wakati ilikwama. Imerudi salama bandarini Pemba.

Hata wiki haijapita tangu ajali ya MV Spice Islander, leo kuna habari kuwa Meli iendayo kasi Sea Bus ya Azam Ferry imekwama zaidi ya masaa manane nahari Nungwi pwani ya Zanzibar! Habari zinasema imekwama pale karibu na ilipozama MV Spice Islander.

Nitawapa updates nikipata.

Kaka Michuzi naya ametoa taarifa:  BOFYA HAPA:

Magodoro, Milango ilisaidia Kuokoa maisha katika Ajali ya MV Spice Islander

Wadau, kwenye miaka ya 1980's kulikuwa na jali ya mashua Zanzibar. Magodoro yalisaidia kuokoa maisha ya watu katika ajali hiyo.

Lakini sheriza za bahari zinasema kuwa meli lazima iwe na Lifejackets na boti za kutosha abiria kwenye meli! Kwa vilie meli MV Spice Islander ilikuwa na watu wengi kuliko kiasi chake cha kubeba watu 600,  hazikutosha!  SERIKALI MKO WAPI HAPO?
*************************************************************************
Kutoka IPPMEDIA.com
 Survivor: Mattresses, Doors Saved Our Lives

By Judica Tarimo

12th September 2011As the nation enters the second day of mourning the MV Spice Islanders tragedy, one of the survivors, Kassim Abdalah said yesterday that most passengers used mattresses and wooden doors to keep afloat.

According to the survivor, they started the journey at Zanzibar Port around 10.00 pm on Friday heading to Pemba.

“But even before we started the journey, most of us (passengers) were not comfortable with the condition of the ship…the vessel was tilting, something that worried many passengers, including me,” narrated Abdallah, a resident of Kisiwani Kojani.

He said a short distance from Nungwi Bay some passengers started sensing abnormal movements of the ship.

“It seemed as if the ship was sinking… fear and tension gripped most passengers on board,” he explained, adding: “The situation worsened when we arrived at Nungwi Bay after one of the ship’s engines stalled.”

Fearing for their lives, some passengers, especially women, started crying, with others asking the ship’s captain to assure them of their safety, after the engine ceased.

This forced the captain to make an announcement…urging passengers not to panic, saying the ship could still travel on one engine. “According to the captain we would arrive safely despite of the problem. Since we (passengers) are not experts, we believed him, and the journey continued,” he said.

They proceeded with the safari, but when they were some five kilometres from Nungwi Bay, the second engine ceased, shocking everybody and triggering more panic and outcries amongst passengers, as sea water started entering the ship.

“The ship had started to sink, slowly! Every passenger prayed to God for some miracles to save our lives. There was nothing we could do except to pray,” he explained.

“It reached a point when almost half of the ship was covered with water…it is at this point when many children and infants died, as adults, like me, struggled to save our lives,” said Abdallah.

The ship’s captain, assisted by five sailors, threw life buoys into the Ocean, and all of them jumped onto them and started helping other passengers out of the sinking ship onto the rescue facility.

“Unfortunately the rescue facility could not accommodate all passengers, because the carrier capacity of that facility was low compared to the number of people needing help,” the survivor explained.

“Fortunately as we desperately sought ways to save ourselves, we realized that, there were mattresses and wooden doors on top of the ship…they belonged to businesspeople plying between Pemba and Unguja.”

“So, one of us (passengers) threw the mattresses and the doors to the ocean which we used as rafters to rescue passengers. Honestly speaking, these mattresses and doors, saved lives of many more passengers,” he added.

Abdallah said while the rescue continue, a group of 40 passengers, including him had clung to the ship, in anticipation of assistance from relevant authorities and anybody else who might happen.

“No rescue came and the whole ship sunk, taking with it 25 passengers who probably died. I and 14 other passengers used mattresses and doors which were floating on the surface to remain afloat. We held onto the mattresses and doors, for hours---from around 1.00 am until morning,” he said.

While on the Ocean, waiting for help, he said: “We saw an airplane, afar. We raised our hands and water pipes—hoping it would spot us. Apparently noticing us, the plane circled above for a while…before flying away.”

“Not long after a boat come to our rescue. Before helping us out of the water, people on the boat spent sometime, taking our photos,” said Abdallah.

“After this the boat came close to where we were, picked us up and put all of us onto it…in short the mattresses and doors, saved my life and those of many other passengers, in the tragedy,” he concluded.

Meli Imezama Zanzibar - Mamia Wamekufa!

Wadau, kumradhi muda huu nimegundua hii ya meli iliyozama ni feki. Siyo MV Spice Islandder. Picha ya Juu ndo MV Spice Islander. Picha hii ilipigwa 2007.

(Pichani - Meli M.V. Spice Islanders ikiwa imezama Pwani ya Nungwi  Picha kwa hisani ya mdau  Ahmed Muhamed Ahmed wa Zanzinet)

Meli M.V. Spice Islanders imezama baharini ikitoka Zanzibar kwenda  Pemba. Habari zinasema kuwa meli iilikuwa imejaza kupita kiasi abiria na mizigo! Imezama eneo la Nungwi, pwani ya Zanzibar. 


*********************************************************
STONE TOWN, Tanzania (AP) - An overcrowded ship sank in deep sea off mainland Tanzania on Saturday with about 600 people onboard, and about 370 people are believed missing or dead.

The ferry, M.V. Spice Islanders, was heavily overloaded and some potential passengers had refused to board when it was leaving the mainland port of Dar es Salaam, said survivor Abdullah Saied. It sank in an area with heavy currents in deep sea between mainland Tanzania and Pemba Island at about 1 a.m. Saturday.

About 230 people had been rescued and 40 bodies had been recovered, said Mohamed Abud, the minister for the vice president's office.

Thousands of residents mobbed the docks of Stone Town on Zanzibar, an island near Pemba, waiting for news. One man was screaming that he had lost 25 members of his family, including his sisters, his wife and grandsons. He was too upset to give his name. Many of the crowd were crying or screaming.

Seven bodies have washed up so far, said witness Abdirizak Juma.

Many of those present expressed anger that the ship had been allowed to leave port so overloaded and called on government officials to resign.

The green and hilly island of Pemba is often described as one of the best scuba diving destinations in the world.