Darin Hill
Port Of Call Accident - Tour Boat Sinks
Costa Cruises - Costa Mediterranea - April 7, 2006
Darin Hill
Visitors Submission Date: May 18,2006
Event Date: April 7, 2006
Bruise: Sinking
Bruise Location: Near Grand Cayman
Age: 40
Home Town: Colorado
Cruise Line: Costa Cruise Lines
Ship: Costa Mediterranea
Details:
My wife, my three daughters, one of my daughter's friends, my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law, and I booked a port of call excursion through Costa Cruise Lines. Our Kirk Seas Tour boat capsized off of Grand Cayman with 57 people on board - I truly thought I was going to die, here is some information - Always trust your intutuion. Let me give you some facts:
The crew was inexperienced - many passengers kept commenting on the water on board the boat - their response was "we can take on a lot more water"
One of the crew members was from Argentina - he could not effectively communicate with the two other crewmembers. The Captain joked about the lack of communication skills during the introduction - I watched the crew member from Argentina motion to the Captain who was on the deck above that he was concerned about the water below.
When the boat flipped, I was standing in 6-8" of water - I was walking to towards the back of the boat with my two oldest daughters and their friend. I heard a lady scream "oh my god we are going to flip" and in a matter of seconds we did. There was no wind, there was not a sudden movement of people - there was just a tremendous amount of water on board, the weight of the water finally caused the boat to set low enough for the sea to catch it.
Photos © Copyright 2006 Darin Hill
Photos © Copyright 2006 Darin Hill
Photos © Copyright 2006 Darin Hill
I went under water along with my two daughters and their friend, when we came up out of the water there was a barrier between us. The girls were petrified - it was if they could not think or understand what had just happened - I pulled all three girls through the metal divider - It was chaos - everyone was screaming help, calling out for people - I found my wife, youngest daughter and in-laws 10-15 feet away from the boat. I instructed the girls to swim over to them. See photo (opens in a new window disable pop-up blockers) of passengers in the water - here
My family was picked up by a local person from the island (Jeff) - he had a float tube with a rope attached - my brother in-law and myself swam back to the boat twice to help people - I was not clear if the boat was going to flip over on top of us - people were petrified - they were refusing to let go of the portion of the boat sticking out of the water - I personally placed several people on this float. People were still screaming, looking for their loved ones. By this time the entire area around the boat was covered with diesel fuel and oil - that is what we were swimming in. Debris was everywhere - it looked as if a bomb had gone off.
Where was the crew? They were sitting on the piece of the boat that was still sticking out of the water. I have photos of this from a person who was on another ship that had taken the Stingray City tour. The crew did NOTHING to help - it was all the passengers helping out one another.
Not everyone had life vests on - my youngest daughter included. The first life vest we found for her did not work - the second one did. I assisted one other person whose vest would not hold air. My vest took on water - although it still functioned.
Once we returned to the ship I was informed by the Port Agent that he would have to escort me to the local Police station to fill out a report due to the lost Passports. I spent the rest of the day at the police department getting the necessary paperwork. I was the last person on the ship - while waiting for the tender to return - I observed a Cayman official try to return several containers of items that were recovered from the incident. The security official with Costa refused to take them back to the ship.
Once I retuned to the ship, the crew explained that the Cayman police needed a report from me - I was taken to a room where officials were taking reports from people who were on the tour. There were several officers from the ship that were insistent that the police hurry with their reports, as the ship needed to leave the port.
In closing - this was the scariest incident I have ever experienced in my life. I thank God that everyone survived.
This was not a "Slow process of taking on water and gradually falling in the water". You were immediately thrown into the side of the boat or out into the sea. Both my wife and I have bruises from the sudden sinking.
