The vessel was 34 years old and more than one thing went wrong. In 2000 the Greek Ro-Ro passenger ferry EXPRESS SAMINA hit a rocky island with 534 people on board and sank in 45 minutes. Indicator panels had buttons for opening the doors from the bridge, and there was no definition of the function of the red and green lamps.
In one case a water hose passed through the door frame. At condition surveys held in 2011, Gard surveyors noted open watertight doors in engine rooms of Ro-Ro passenger ferries while on voyage in the Baltic Sea and the Irish Sea. Regardless of what was learned following the ESTONIA disaster, there are still Ro-Ro ferries sailing with open doors and with control consoles allowing an opening of the watertight doors from the bridge. The document "Research study on the sinking sequence of MV ESTONIA", issued in 2008 by the SSPA Consortium, which had been awarded a grant to investigate the sinking sequence and explain the underlying causes of the loss, concluded that it was unclear whether watertight doors were closed - whether all of them were closed, or whether any were closed at all - but did not see the possible failure to close the doors to be a potential cause of the incident. That would definitely be a thing to examine in case of such a vessel sinking. Bjørkman criticised the investigating commission as its final report did not establish whether doors were closed or not. The vessel had 10 watertight doors on the tanktop level of the ship. Bjørkman was of the opinion that the vessel must have had a severe leakage of the hull below the waterline and that water must have spread to several compartments through open watertight doors. It was international practice to use green lights for doors closed and red lights for doors open, but there were indications that it was the opposite on board the ESTONIA. There may have been confusion about the colour of signalling lights on the bridge panel for doors open or doors closed. At a Lloyd's List Event Conference in London in 2003, Anders Bjørkman of Heiwa Co stated that the vessel had 22 doors in watertight bulkheads below the superstructure, and that those doors could be opened and kept open from the bridge. In addition to the official report, there have been different views concerning the sequence of events that led to the sinking. In 1994 the Ro-Ro passenger ferry ESTONIA sank in the Baltic Sea with the loss of 852 lives. When the vessel struck an object, the engine room was holed and water entered the ship and flooded the cargo holds by way of the open door. In 1985 Transport Canada issued a bulletin concerning the sinking of a large cargo vessel attributed to the fact that a watertight door had been left open in the forward engine room bulkhead. Power-operated sliding doors, capable of being closed from the bridge, have undoubtedly made ships safer in case of flooding, but unfortunately they have increased the dangers to individual crew members using such doors. Further amendments were adopted in 1989, all entering in force on 1st February 1992, the most important being the changes in regulations for openings in watertight bulkheads in passenger ships.
THE HERALD BULLETIN FREE
As a result of the accidents with the EUROPEAN GATEWAY and the HERALD OF FREE ENTERPRISE, the UK approached the IMO with suggestions for new regulations, resulting, among other things, in 1988 amendments to SOLAS requiring indicators on the bridge for all doors that could lead to major flooding if left open. In 1987 the Ro-Ro passenger ferry HERALD OF FREE ENTERPRISE capsized and sank with the loss of 193 lives, having left the Belgian port of Zeebrugge with an open bow door. UK national regulations were amended accordingly, so all sliding watertight doors which could be open at sea were to be power-operated and capable of remote control. Following formal investigations and court proceedings, a number of recommendations were made, one of them being that power operation of watertight doors should become mandatory. Attempts had been made to close two of the doors without success. The doors complied with the regulations in force at the time, but could only be closed manually. In the investigation that followed it was revealed that watertight doors giving access to machinery spaces were open at the time of the collision.
The hull of the EUROPEAN GATEWAY was badly breached and the ship capsized and sank in shallow water with the loss of six lives. In 1982 the Ro-Ro passenger ferry EUROPEAN GATEWAY collided with a vessel at the entrance to the port of Harwich, UK. Ship accidents leading to new regulations
The incidents described in the following article are examples of some of the risks posed by watertight doors to the safety of ships.
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