BELIZE CITY, Belize (11 Oct 2001) -- Hurricane Iris, the worst Belize has seen since 1961, slammed into the coast 80 miles south of Belize City killing 20 people, all of them aboard the Peter Hughes liveaboard, Wave Dancer. In the wake of the deaths, many are criticizing the crew's decision to stay aboard the vessel despite a powerful and deadly Category 4 hurricane bearing down on Big Creek where Wave Dancer was moored. Patricia Rose, spokesperson for Peter Hughes Diving in Miami, denied the crew had any choice stating, " we could not put the guests in a hotel. We were forced to keep them on the boat," she added. But other emergency facilities were available and locals repeatedly warned boat crews to get their passengers off the boats and take shelter in local facilities. "My home and supermarket are built of masonry and I opened them up to everyone who needed emergency shelter," said Tony Zabaneh, chairman of Independence, a town located just north of Big Creek. "More than 400 people were sheltered here when the hurricane hit us and it hit hard, more like a tornado than a hurricane." "We made three trips with a van and pickup truck down to Big Creek to warn the people onboard the dive boats," Zabaneh said. "But they refused to get off the boats." One of the biggest threats from hurricanes is storm surge caused when high winds push powerful walls of water and huge battering waves ahead of the storm. It's the water, not the wind that often destroys moorages, boats and other facilities at the shore's edge. | | In the worst single accident in the history of recreational scuba diving, 20 people died when the Wave Dancer capsized in Belize. "Guests on those big dive boats expect to be pampered so my guess is that the crew did not want to subject them to a night with hundreds of locals at the town supermarket," said George Thomas, a charter yacht owner. "But when hurricanes are coming at you, you have to trash the itinerary and get them to the safest place available. The worst possible place to be during a hurricane is on a boat." According to some reports, a tugboat collided with Wave Dancer but Zabaneh believes that the Wave Dancer crew tied the boat too close to the dock, which put too much stress on the mooring cleats. "Once those cleats broke loose and the boat spun away from the dock, she was finished," said Zabaneh. SOURCE - Channel 5 |
