 |
Transportation safety chief: Student
cruise ship a potential fire trap
About 600 American college students are at sea on an educational
cruise ship with so many potential fire hazards that the chief
of the National Transportation Safety Board says it never
should have left port. NTSB Chairman James Hall Wednesday
faulted both the Coast Guard, which permitted the SS Universe
Explorer to sail without a sprinkler system, and the University
of Pittsburgh, sponsor of Semester at Sea, which leased the
ship for its four-month international study program.
"I'm extremely concerned," Hall said. "And
until somebody explains to me why there was an exception made
on that sprinkling system, I'm going to stay concerned."
John Tymitz, executive director of Semester at Sea, downplayed
Hall's concerns about the Panamanian-registered ship: "I
would feel safe having my child on the ship. ... The ship
meets all the standards dictated by the Coast Guard and American
Bureau of Shipping."
Semester at Sea is a private, non-profit group that operates
out of the school. Each semester, it carries 600 students
on its "floating classroom." Tuition, room, board
and incidentals can run $20,000 per student, including side
trips at about a dozen ports of call. Students get credit
for courses taken as part of the program. This semester, students
from more than 100 schools are aboard, including Pittsburgh,
the University of Colorado, Tulane University, New York University,
Dartmouth College, Stanford University and The American University.
Tuesday, days after the ship sailed from Vancouver, British
Columbia, Hall said the go-ahead made him "the most bewildered
and concerned I've been in the four years I've been on the
board."
In July 1996, five crew members died in their berths on the
Universe Explorer when they were overcome by smoke from a
fire in the laundry room. Fifty-five people were injured.
The fire occurred during a cruise to Alaska not affiliated
with Semester at Sea. There have been no fatal fires on subsequent
trips. A Coast Guard report on the fire, reviewed by the NTSB,
said the fire spread because a safety wall was removed. The
crew died because alarms didn't sound in their quarters. "There
could have been a much greater loss of life," said Hall.
"And now they're allowing students - the best and the
brightest - on that ship." The NTSB does not possess
regulatory powers, but its recommendations are adopted 80%
of the time. No timetable has been set for an NTSB recommendation
for the ship.
The Universe Explorer is now crossing the Pacific Ocean. It
is scheduled to stop in Kobe, Japan, on Sept. 27. In an Aug.
12 letter from the Coast Guard's Marine Safety Center in Washington,
D.C., inspectors said the Universe Explorer needed "much
upgrading." Most important was an automatic sprinkler
system required by the Safety of Life at Sea, or SOLAS, convention.
After meeting with representatives of the ship, the Coast
Guard said the sprinkler system could be delayed until 2005.
Under SOLAS regulations, the delay is acceptable because the
ship is constructed of noncombustible materials.
Last week, USA TODAY highlighted an accident during a Semester
at Sea program in which four American college women died.
The March 27, 1996, bus crash in India is the subject of lawsuits
by the women's families against Semester at Sea and the University
of Pittsburgh, among others.
By Eileen Smith
Printed in USA Today
9/18/97.
|
|
