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Engine room controlled freighter, didn't know of impending crash
December 18, 1996Web posted at: 4:15 p.m. EST
NEW ORLEANS (CNN) -- The Chinese captain of the freighter that slammed into a section of New Orleans riverfront said Wednesday that his engine room crew, unaware of the impending disaster, took control of the vessel when it lost power.
Testifying on the second day of a Coast Guard hearing, Capt. Deng Jing Quan of the M.V. Bright Field also said he followed the river pilot's orders but did not immediately alert the crew about the emergency.
The pilot, Ted Davisson, testified Tuesday that the captain and his crew showed no signs of responding to his frantic commands to reverse engines and drop anchor in an attempt to keep the 763-foot ship under control.
Pilots are required to be aboard to navigate ships down the treacherous Mississippi River, but the ship's captain stays in command of the vessel.
English understood?
Davisson said Deng only spoke broken English but he believed the two understood each other. Deng testified through an interpreter on Wednesday, although he did not have an interpreter on the bridge at the time of the accident.
During the hearing, he showed he understood some of the English questions, occasionally answering before the translator repeated them. His answers were in Chinese.
He said he agreed with Davisson's orders to put the rudder hard right, lower anchor and rev the engines to full speed astern.
However, he said, his order to the man at the anchor could not be heard because of the alarms being blown on the ship's whistle.
Engine room took control
Deng testified that when the engineering crew took control of the motors, bridge personnel were no longer operating the ship. Engine speed can be increased more quickly from below than from the bridge.
However, he said, he did not initially advise the engine room that there was an emergency.
Asked when he told them, he said: "They were informed when the collision became unavoidable even with increased speed." He did not address the question of why he waited so long.
Deng said personnel on the ship's bridge did not regain control of the vessel until just before Saturday's crash into a crowded waterfront shopping mall, three minutes after the freighter lost power. No one was killed, but 116 people were injured. The impact collapsed five floors of a shopping mall and damaged a hotel and a condominium complex.
Correspondent Charles Zewe contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Language barrier focus of freighter crash probe - December 17, 1996
- No known deaths in freighter accident - December 16, 1996
- 'It just kept coming' - December 15, 1996
- Ship slams into New Orleans riverfront mall - December 14, 1996
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window- COSCO Shipping
- U. S. Maritime Administration
- Maritime Global Net
- Port of New Orleans
- USCG Marine Safety and Environmental Protection
- Merchant Marine & Maritime Pages
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