Date: April 6, 2007
Event: Injury
Cause: Fall into harbor
Place: Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada
Age: 7
Hometown: Millis, Massachusetts
Cruise Line: Carnival Cruise Lines
Ship: Carnival Victory
Details:
This cruise turned ugly, and smelly as well for a family visiting Halifax harbor on their 5 day cruise to Canada.
Joseph Johnson
Falls Into Sewage Polluted Harbor In Halifax
April 6, 2007
Joseph Johnson and his twin brother Ryan had only been in Halifax a couple of hours with their mother and grandmother on their final port of call.
They were assembled to hear the Langley Ukulele Ensemble play in front of the Amistad in Halifax Harbor. Why the town would have entertainment along a waterfront known for its smell of sewage is unclear.
It started off with the two boys scaling the statue - which is posted off-limits to climbers. "He was trying to get a running start [to scale it] and he fell backward," his mother Ann-Marie Johnson said.
Joseph fell off the jetty into the harbor. The harbor is so polluted with sewage, decontamination was required immediately upon reaching the hosptial. His clothing was removed, and he was scrubbed by nurses in the shower with anti-bacterial soap to remove the filth, as a precaution to prevent infection of his scrapes.
He was stripped of his clothing, which was then disposed of as hazardous waste and returned to the ship in hospital pajamas.
The location of the fall was very close to a sewage outfall into the harbor.
Military police Cpl. Jodi Woolridge was standing on the jetty at noon yesterday when he heard a splash, then cries, and spotted the boy in the metre-deep water.
Boy boys were histerical after the incident.
The ship left Halifax at 7 p.m.
"We could not believe the overwhelming response we got for a child falling off a pier," she said. "I have never seen the kindness of strangers - I have never in my life felt that.", Mrs Johnson said.
Canadian reaction to her statement was sympathetic. Canadians who voiced their opinions online felt sorry for her that she lives somewhere that strangers showing kindness during a tragedy is something she has never seen.
Some Americans reacting to this story felt sorry for the Canadians that live in a harbor where sewage is pumped right next to a tourist area.
Halifax Harbour, one of the best deepwater, ice-free ports in the world, continues to be polluted by over 181,000,000 litres per day of untreated water, both sanitary and storm wastewater.
Halifax Regional Council is just now proceeding with the Halifax Harbour Solutions project, designed to eliminate the flow of raw sewage and other contaminants into the world-famous Halifax Harbour.
The harbor has serious problems. According to the Town Of Halifax evaluation of the problem, "shellfish harvesting is prohibited in the harbour; large areas of contaminated sediment exist around some forty separate outfalls; water quality is poor along the shorelines; bacterial contamination is widespread; and aesthetics are poor along the Halifax/Dartmouth waterfronts due to particulates, floatables and odor."
The local health department has identified the water in Halifax Harbor as a health hazard and put a ban on swimming at the harbour beach. It is posted as such, and locals know to stay out of the water.
It is unclear why this environmental nightmare would be a cruise ship destination.
Halifax Harbor was a staging area for Allied convoys headed for Britain during the Second World War. Thousands of tonnes of munitions were shipped from Halifax during the war. Undetonated bombs have been found in the harbor in the past. 50-kilogram bombs were discovered during dredging of Halifax harbor back in November 2000.
