Abandon ship order floated in ferry crisis
‘‘The expectation was that anchors would hold.’’ Walter Rushbrook Interislander executive general manager
Wellington mayor Tory Whanau was warned 864 people aboard a stricken Cook Strait ferry may have to abandon ship as 22,365 tonne Kaitaki remained powerless in stormy conditions off the south coast.
Multiple investigations are under way after a cooling system problem on Saturday resulted in the Interislander ferry losing power to all four engines and drifting towards rocks. The captain declared a mayday, triggering a huge emergency response while lifejackets were handed out to passengers.
More than two hours later, and after the captain deployed anchors and stopped the ferry’s drift towards the rapidly nearing coast, engineers managed to restore power and the ferry limped to Wellington under escort.
Whanau confirmed she was contacted by the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office (Wremo) on Saturday evening with a ‘‘be prepared expectation’’ that passengers may have to abandon ship.
‘‘Everyone had lifejackets, but it was not to that level yet,’’ she said.
Interislander executive general manager Walter Rushbrook said there was no discussion with the onshore team responding to the incident around the immediate possibility of abandoning ship, or of any timetable for doing so.
‘‘The expectation was that anchors would hold once they were in shallow enough water, as proved to be the case. However, as you would expect, we were prepared for all outcomes, however unlikely.’’
Wremo group manager Jeremy Holmes confirmed he was notified of problems at 5.03pm.
Maritime NZ data shows this was eight minutes after KiwiRail contacted Maritime NZ about engine troubles on the ship and three minutes before a mayday was declared.
This triggered a response to make sure people were ready ‘‘should there be people hitting the water or coming ashore’’, he confirmed. He was not told of any imminent threat of this happening.
Justin Allan, from Maritime NZ’s Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand, would not comment on how close the captain was to ordering people off the Kaitaki, saying the information had to come from KiwiRail.