MV Rabaul Queen

300px MV Rabaul Queen arriving at Kimbe Port in 2009
History
Name:	MV Rabaul Queen
Owner:	Rabaul Shipping
Operator:	Star Ships
Port of registry:	Papua New Guinea
Route:	Kimbe—Lae
Completed:	1983 (1983)
Out of service:	2 February 2012
Identification:	IMO number: 8351297 Call sign: P2V4040
Fate:	Sunk
General characteristics
Class & type:	passenger ferry
Tonnage:	259 GT
Length:	155 ft (47 m)
Capacity:	310 passengers (permitted)
Crew:	12

Finschhafen

Kimbe

Lae

MV Rabaul Queen, en route from Kimbe to Lae, sank approximately 9 nautical miles (16 km) off Finschhafen

MV Rabaul Queen was a passenger ferry owned by the Papua New Guinea company Rabaul Shipping. The ship, built in Japan in 1983, operated on short runs in that country, before being brought to Papua New Guinea in 1998 and plying a regular weekly route between Kimbe, the capital of West New Britain, and Lae, the capital of the mainland province of Morobe. In the early hours of 2 February 2012, the ferry capsized and later sank in rough conditions.

Capsize and sinking

Incident

Early in the morning of 2 February 2012, the ship capsized due to rough conditions in the Solomon Sea. The ship was hit by three large waves. About four hours later, at approximately 6:00 am local time (8:00 pm on 1 February UTC), she sank 9 nautical miles (16 km) from Finschhafen. She was near the end of her 20-hour journey from Kimbe to Lae. 12 crew and an estimated 350 passengers were aboard at the time, though it is possible there may have been more than 500 passengers on the ferry.

Rescue and recovery

A joint rescue effort by Papua New Guinea and Australia was formed shortly after the sinking. 246 survivors were rescued by nightfall on 2 February. As of 5 February 2012, the bodies of six victims have been recovered, and no further survivors have been rescued. Over 100 are still missing. Seven of the survivors were admitted to Angau Memorial Hospital in Lae, three of whom had serious injuries. It was reported that 27 survivors were on an uninhabited island; one survivor contacted a family member with a cell phone, although Papua New Guinea's Maritime Safety Authority claimed on 5 February that any survivors would already have been located.

Many survivors were rescued by six merchant vessels alerted by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which was alerted by Rabaul Shipping that the ferry had disappeared from a satellite tracking system. Seven fixed wing aircraft, including a P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft from the Royal Australian Air Force, three helicopters and seven boats were involved in locating survivors. On 11 February it was reported that some of the survivors were having stomach pains because they swallowed seawater containing oil leaking from the boat.

Revised casualty figures

On 10 February 2012, Radio New Zealand reported that the number of people rescued had been re-calculated as 237, and that the number of people missing (based on new information from relatives of those onboard) was 321. This would indicate that some 558 people were aboard the vessel. It was only permitted to carry 310.

Investigation

A Commission of Inquiry was set up and led by Warwick Andrew, who submitted the final report to caretaker Prime Minister Peter O'Neill. O'Neill said that the 200-page report would first need to be tabled in parliament before its release and would thus have to wait for the new parliament to sit following the general election.