As you may already heard the “Quenn Hind” ship capsized on 24th of November while trying to leave the port of Midia, Romania.  

As we recall, the ship detached from the dock tilted over 3 degrees to the port and in the following minutes it tilted to the opposite side, starting to sink to the starboard (on the right hand). In that moment  in the control cabin were the Romanian pilot Florin Rusu and the Syrian commander of the ship.  It seems that they are responsible for what happened with the ship in terms of navigation.

„Queen Hind” leaving the port moments before sinking

In line with the latest findings the ship was incorrectly loaded and this detail passed unnoticed by everyone:  first mate (C/M), captain, draft survey agent.

Finally the Romanian pilot who was in charge with navigation did not notice that the ship it’s ready to sink and he started the engine (half ahead) trying to get out of the harbor. In the next minutes more then three tugboats tried to give a hand but the situation was hopeless. The ship could no longer be balanced to the right position.

All 22 crew members including the pilot were saved by the three Romanian tugboats who quickly intervened. During the rescue operation one of the crew members fell over the board but he was pulled out of the cold water just in time.

„Queen Hind” – man overboard

The situation was desperate because this ship carried more than 14,600 live sheeps. Unfortunately just a few hundred animals were saved and more then 14,000 died right after without any chance of escape.

Trying to avoid an ecological tragedy in the hours that followed the Romanian authorities surrounded the ship with a anti pollution barrier.

Queen Hind

Since last week the Romanian „GSP” private group of companies started the ship lifting operation using a huge floating crane and other special equipments. Before that several reinforcement points were welded on the body of the ship.

On Saturday they slowly tried to lift the ship but the crane’s cables failed at 1380 tons pressure. Previously was calculated full load ship weighs at 800 tons. It seems the estimates were wrong. The checks revealed that a welded fastening point failed. It also turned out that the official ship cargo plan it’s a fake one because in reality they were carrying more undeclared sheeps.

Here we have some video captures during the lifting operation

Finally, it should be noted that this ship is over 40 years old and the body hardly withstands this lifting operation.

Representatives of the Romanian „GSP” in charge with this works said they will weld new structures to enforce the ship before trying a new lifting.