Witnesses say ferry swerved to avoid collision
SEVERAL eyewitnesses have come forward to say that a Serco NorthLink passenger vessel had to swerve sharply to avoid colliding with another vessel in flat calm conditions on its approach to Kirkwall on Friday night.
But the company is refusing to make any comment and at this stage, five days after the event, is refusing to confirm that any such incident occurred.
A number of passengers said the ferry, which was stopping off in Kirkwall en route from Lerwick to Aberdeen, had to make a “sharp turn” to avoid hitting a ship anchored in the shipping lane.
Some have described the incident, which saw the vessel lurch sharply to one side in flat calm sea conditions, as “frightening” and “scary”.
Several of those who have contacted this website did not want to be named, but are calling for an investigation to ensure such a near miss does not arise again.
Details have been seeping out on social media in the past few days and Shetland News has been seeking an explanation from Serco NorthLink since Monday.
However its PR company Weber Shandwick said it “can’t confirm or provide any details at the moment”, while Serco NorthLink managing director Stuart Garrett – who is in London on holiday this week – said he was not in a position to comment.
One passenger, Hazel Bruce, who is now back in Lerwick, told BBC Radio Shetland on Wednesday that it had been frightening.
“With the nature of the boats that we have, if we’d hit that boat I wouldn’t like to think what would have happened,” she said.
Bruce was sitting in the bar at the time as she was one of many folk who did not have a cabin. Coinciding with the start of the summer school holidays, it was a busy sailing and she reckoned around 500 people were on board.
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“The journey was flat clam, but suddenly I was aware of being pushed to the left-hand side and I also heard the sound of crashing glasses and bottles in the bar.
“Bearing in mind that it was flat calm, we knew there was something not quite right.
“My friend, who was outside at the time getting some fresh air, basically got pushed against a wall. He could see the red boat that we were, I think, swerving to avoid.
“It was really, really thick fog but he said we were so close to the boat that you could’ve spit and it would have hit the boat.”
Bruce said her friend thought it was “some sort of supply boat”.
Staff on board the ship told passengers that it “wasn’t anything to do with the weather, they had to take evasive action”, and Bruce said she was “quite shocked”.
She was surprised that there had been no mention of the incident in the local media and said she “absolutely” hopes the incident will be investigated.
Several people who were on board said they felt it appeared to have been the fault of the other vessel for sitting in a shipping lane during such thick fog.
Another woman, one of a group of Shetlanders travelling to Mexico for a holiday, said the boat “took a sharp lurch to the left, [there were] glasses smashing, a lady fell over, lots of shouts… then we were not moving.
“Folk went out on deck to see what had happened, then a tannoy came over to apologise and that a boat which was moored had appeared out of the fog and they had to take avoiding action.”
Shetland News has also contacted Orkney Islands Council, which owns Kirkwall Harbour, to see if it can provide any information about the incident.
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