Passenger Vessel Runs Aground Off Papua New Guinea

The passenger / cargo vessel Kimbe Queen went aground on a reef near the Talele Island nature reserve in Papua New Guinea last week. Local media report that ten hours after the grounding, the sixty passengers and crew walked over the reef to get to a fishing vessel, which carried them to safety.

Only minor injuries were reported, but authorities say that the ship's hull was breached in the grounding and they are concerned about the possibility of a spill just meters away from a sensitive natural area.

The Papuan National Maritime Safety Authority is looking into the cause of the incident.

The Kimbe Queen has been aground before; in February 2012 she found a reef off of West New Britain. Her passengers were offloaded and she was refloated. No injuries were reported. Following the incident, authorities ordered the vessel to drydock for inspection, saying that she was forbidden “to operate until inspections are completed and NMSA is satisfied that the vessel is safe to resume operations.”

Her sister ship the Rabaul Queen was not so lucky. Three weeks before the 2012 Kimbe grounding, the Rabaul went down off of Lae with at least 150 lives lost.

The operator of the two vessels, Rabaul Shipping, had routinely booked more passengers than was permitted, and overloading was cited as a contributing factor in the sinking. The vessel was repeatedly struck on the starboard side by heavy waves, and as passengers crowded away from the spray to stay dry, they increased the vessel's roll to port. The Rabaul capsized and went down within ten minutes.

A commission of inquiry formed to investigate the Rabaul incident found the ship unseaworthy for reasons of overloading, unsuitability for weather conditions at the time of accident, lack of maintenance, unqualified crew and other deficiencies.

The commission faulted Captain Peter Sharp, president of Rabaul Shipping, for making “it clear in evidence that he put profit ahead of safety,” and for showing “little or no respect for the organisation or maritime laws of Papua New Guinea.” The panel suggested that charges of criminal manslaughter would be appropriate in the Rabaul case.