As the owner of a small hotel on Ambergris Caye, I have first-hand experience with the danger of hurricanes. I have lived in the Caribbean for eight years and I have had to evacuate tourists and myself due to hurricanes Mitch, Keith, Iris and Tropical Storm Chantal. The last two storms, Chantal and Iris required mandatory tourist evacuations. Why then did the Peter Hughes Corporation's Wave Dancer and the Belize Aggressor not do the same? There are several statements that the Hughes corporation made in their official statements on their website that suggest a cover-up to conceal a series of poor decisions. I have addressed those statements below. I think that the public should be aware of the events that took place. All of the quotations come from various news articles published on the tragedy. "We knew there was a storm on the way, and we expected the storm to intensify," said Patricia Rose, a Peter Hughes spokeswoman. Yes they did. As of Sunday Oct. 7 at 11 p.m. EST or 9 p.m. Belize Time the National Weather Service in Miami indicated that: MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE INCREASED TO NEAR 90 MPH (150 KM/HR) WITH HIGHER GUSTS. ADDITIONAL STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 25 MILES (35 KM) FROM THE CENTER AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 115 MILES (185 KM). Preparations should have been made immediately to get the passengers inland. Primary evacuation plans and contingency backup plans should have been initiated. Instead, it appears the Captain held a vote and let the holiday makers decide how they should respond. Hurricane Iris was on her way, the captain told the guests at dinner that night, and they had a decision to make. They could travel eight hours to Belize City and stay at the Radisson overnight, missing two days of diving time. Or they could head to Big Creek and ride the storm out, losing only one day. Everyone cheered and applauded! Big Creek it was! And there, 17 Richmond Dive Club members and three crew would lose far more than just one diving day. How could you have a vote on a life or death situation? The captain is responsible for ensuring the safety of crew and passengers. PERIOD. The official story from Peter Hughes Corporation said the reason they headed south was as follows: At 6:30AM on Monday Oct.8th the Wave Dancer was at Lighthouse Reef, approximately 80 miles east of Belize City. At this time all reports indicated that Hurricane Iris was going to hit Belize City between 10 and 11PM. No hotel rooms were available in Belize City to offload the passengers because this area of Belize was evacuated. This statement is confusing because according to the AP story by Karla Heusner, while the evacuation was optional in Belize City, officials said it was mandatory for some coastal towns farther south and for offshore cayes popular with tourists. This indicates that hotel rooms were not a problem. Even if Belize City was being evacuated the divers could have been sent by bus or van inland to Belmopan or San Ignacio, the same areas the hotel guest would have been sent if they were being evacuated. According to the Peter Hughes dive company's official statement, at 6:30am on Monday morning, the reports they were monitoring indicated the hurricane would be heading to Belize City. I would sure like to see these reports. What I saw is the following National Weather service report issued at 3 a.m. Belize time (5 a.m. EDT). BULLETIN
HURRICANE IRIS ADVISORY NUMBER 15
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
5 AM EDT MON OCT 08 2001 ...IRIS STRENGTHENING RAPIDLY...BECOMING A DANGEROUS
HURRICANE...EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL TONIGHT... AT 5 AM EDT...0900 UTC...THE GOVERNMENT OF HONDURAS HAS ISSUED A HURRICANE WARNING FOR HONDURAS FROM LIMON WESTWARD TO THE GUATEMALA BORDER. ALSO AT 5 AM EDT...0900 UTC...A HURRICANE WARNING IS RECOMMENDED FOR THE CARIBBEAN COAST OF GUATEMALA. A HURRICANE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE COAST OF BELIZE. A HURRICANE WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE MEXICAN EAST COAST OFF THE YUCATAN PENINSULA FROM CABO CATOCHE SOUTHWARD TO THE BELIZE BORDER. AT 5 AM EDT...0900Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IRIS WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 17.1 NORTH...LONGITUDE 83.1 WEST. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 25 MILES... 35 KM...FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 115 MILES...185 KM. STORM SURGE FLOODING OF MORE THAN 10 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS...ALONG WITH LARGE BATTERING WAVES...ARE LIKELY NEAR AND TO THE RIGHT OF WHERE THE CENTER OF THE HURRICANE CROSSES THE COAST. Iris had moved South .2 degrees from 11 p.m. Sunday. The fact that hurricane warnings are now out for Honduras, and recommended for Caribbean Guatemala definitely indicated that Iris was heading south! The 5 a.m. (3 a.m. Belize time) national weather service discussion noted this southerly motion. The possibility of Iris going more south of the coordinates they list below is noted as reasoning for the hurricane warnings in Honduras and Caribbean Guatemala. HURRICANE IRIS DISCUSSION NUMBER 15
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
5 AM EDT MON OCT 08 2001 IRIS IS BECOMING A DANGEROUS HURRICANE. IRIS IS APPROACHING MAJOR HURRICANE STATUS...INDEED IT MAY BE ONE ALREADY. THE MOTION IS WEST...OR SLIGHTLY SOUTH OF DUE WEST...260/17. THERE IS A PRONOUNCED DEEP-LAYER ANTICYCLONE TO THE NORTH OF IRIS...AND GLOBAL MODELS INDICATE A CONTINUATION OF THIS REGIME OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS. NUMERICAL TRACK GUIDANCE SHOWS A WEST TO WEST-SOUTHWESTWARD MOTION...AND SO DOES THE OFFICIAL FORECAST. SINCE THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF A MORE SOUTHWARD EXCURSION OF THE HURRICANE THAN SHOWN HERE...A HURRICANE WARNING IS ISSUED FOR THE COAST OF HONDURAS...AND A HURRICANE WARNING IS RECOMMENDED FOR THE CARIBBEAN COAST OF GUATEMALA. FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS INITIAL 08/0900Z 17.1N 83.1W 95 KTS
12HR VT 08/1800Z 17.0N 85.5W 105 KTS
24HR VT 09/0600Z 16.8N 88.5W 80 KTS...INLAND
36HR VT 09/1800Z 16.6N 91.5W 30 KTS...INLAND
48HR VT 10/0600Z 16.5N 94.5W 20 KTS...INLAND
72HR VT 11/0600Z 16.5N 98.5W 20 KTS...INLAND So despite this updated report showing a southerly movement and increasing strength the boats still continued with their plan to journey to Big Creek. This was an extreme error and a fatal decision. Their chosen haven at Big Creek is situated a few miles south of Placencia Village. The geographic coordinates for Placencia is Lat 16.5167 Long -88.3667. This means that what is now a Category 4 hurricane was located a scant 42 miles north of their intended safe spot and heading south. The forecast indicated hurricane force winds 25 miles wide. They would be moored a scant 17 miles south of Iris's eye. Even if it continued due west and did not continue its predicted southwest track they would still be well within the 115 mile range of tropical storm force winds (up to 74 miles per hour). | | Wave Dancer The Wave Dancer should have left at first light and headed north to Belize City. Even at the 9 knots they claim they were getting in rough seas they would have been to Belize City by 1 p.m. Dawn breaks shortly after 5 a.m. right now and there were reports that the Wave Dancer passengers breakfasted about 8 before heading off for Big Creek. So they had a pretty leisurely start considering there was a deadly hurricane in the neighborhood. The Peter Hughes statement then goes on to say: In the afternoon Hurricane Iris changed course, and was now heading between them and Belize City. It was decided that they were too far south to turn around and head for Belize City. No, this statement is absolutely false. The hurricane was forecast to be heading south at 3 a.m. Belize time! Look at the coordinates: 11 p.m. EST 10/07/01 17.3N 79.7W 85 991 Category 1 Hurricane
2 a.m. EST 10/08/01 17.3N 81.3W 90 988 Category 1 Hurricane
5 a.m. EST 10/08/01 17.1N 83.1W 110 963 Category 2 Hurricane
8 a.m. EST 10/08/07 17.1N 84.0W 140 950 Category 4 Hurricane
11 a.m. EST 10/08/01 17.0N 84.9W 140 950 Category 4 Hurricane
2 p.m. EST 10/08/01 16.9N 85.9W 140 954 Category 4 Hurricane
8 p.m. EST 10/09/01 16.4N 88.7W 140 954 Category 4 Hurricane Even a layman can see that these coordinates don't show any change of Iris's course in the afternoon. I cannot understand why Peter Hughes would claim there was a late change of the hurricane's course unless they failed to monitor the information that was available to everyone else, or the company is trying to cover-up the facts to conceal negligence. At noon Belize time, still SEVEN HOURS before the hurricane slammed into Wave Dacner, they were still headed for Big Creek, a place that is located now a scant .5 degrees or 34 miles from the eye of this powerful hurricane. The national weather service was now also forecasting that. STORM SURGE FLOODING OF 13-18 FEET ABOVE NORMAL TIDE LEVELS...ALONG WITH DANGEROUS LARGE BATTERING WAVES...ARE LIKELY NEAR AND TO THE NORTH OF WHERE THE CENTER OF THE HURRICANE CROSSES THE COAST. This leads me to my next question. Why did the captains of these boats fail to evacuate the divers from the Big Creek Placencia area? Southern Belize was now under mandatory evacuation. Why did the Captain not make arrangements for his passengers to be sent inland by van or bus? According to Independence Village chairman Tony Zabaneh, interviewed by AP reporter Maria Sanminiatelli, the Aggressor's captain tried to find hotel rooms in the capital, Belmopan, but that roads in from the coast were packed with traffic. Packed with traffic? Absolute nonsense! Belize has a total countrywide population of 240,000. Most of this populous is children and few adults can afford or even need vehicles. The vast majority of vehicles are located in Belize City. Belize City traffic would be going west, not traveling the southern highway that would have lead them to the inland safety of Belmopan. Also had they been concerned about traffic problems why the leisurely start from the outer atolls in the morning? Had they reached Big Creek earlier than they did there would have been plenty of time to evacuate by road. Arrangements could have been made while they were enroute to have vans pick up the divers and transfer them inland. Even at 3 p.m. this could have been done. Instead of being safely inland the passengers were docked right in the path of a raging killer. Were they then moved to the concrete building that was offered them? No! Mark Holmberg of the Times-Dispatch reported that. Zabaneh urged the captain of the Belize Aggressor III, the boat carrying the other 10 divers, to bring them ashore. "My home and supermarket are built of masonry and I opened them up to everyone who needed emergency. The Belizean crewmembers begged to leave for shelter but were allegedly threatened with losing their jobs if they did so. Angela Luk told Channel 5 News Belize reporters, "He said, 'If you go, you're not coming back.' I said, 'That's fine, I'm still going. I'm not going to be stupid and stay on the boat and risk my life,'" Luk recalled. Were the passengers at least wearing their life jackets and going through emergency drills? No. The Wave Dancer passengers were casually drinking and eating a late "hurricane" dinner, at about 7 p.m. when debris began whipping through the air. "We saw the rain coming and we knew it was about to hit," Mowrer said. Everyone on the Aggressor stood on the deck as trees flattened near them and large, unrecognizable objects flew at them. Passengers from both ships moved to the cabins below. Then, it hit. A gust of wind tossed DeBarger down a short corridor and into a wall. "What the hell was that?" he yelled to Patterson. A crewmember nearby told them to put on life jackets. DeBarger rushed into Cabin 3, where he was bunking, and felt inside the closet for a life vest. DeBarger and fellow diver Rick Patterson, who had followed him into the cabin to collect life jackets, yanked at the door as the tiny room filled with water. The men were soaked. The door wouldn't budge. The Wave Dancer shifted again, and the door popped open a few inches, just enough for them to wriggle out. If the divers had had their life vests on and been in a central location near emergency exits they may have survived. It appears from the quote above that some may have been trapped in their cabins while retrieving their life vests. A question also arises regarding the following statement regarding the mooring lines. When the hurricane hit, no one moved lines or went outside whatsoever. Wind, swells and flying debris made it to dangerous for anyone to leave the vessels. According to the Washington Post, the boat operated by the Aggressor Fleet that was carrying 10 additional members of the Richmond Dive Club was moored next to the Wave Dancer when the hurricane hit. "Our crew was working to loosen the lines so we could ride with the tide," Hasson said. He said his boat's captain watched in horror as the Wave Dancer's lines began to pop. So it appears that the crewmembers of the Aggressor were outside once the storm had hit loosening the lines while the Wave Dancer crew remained onboard. Preliminary accident reports state that the live-aboard dive vessel, M/V Wave Dancer of the Peter Hughes Diving DANCER FLEET, was capsized by a combination of strong wind and surging water. Yes, sadly this statement is true but had it not been for the negligence of the dive operators the boats and certainly not the passengers should not have been in the path of Iris in the first place. My deepest condolences to the loved ones of the Belizeans and Americans who perished in this completely avoidable disaster. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
