First anniversary of Cemfjord disaster in Pentland Firth
SUNDAY marks the first anniversary of the discovery of a carrier vessel which overturned in the Pentland Firth killing eight men.
The upturned hull of the MV Cemfjord was seen by a passing ferry travelling from Shetland to Aberdeen last year on Saturday, January 3, 24 hours after it last made contact.
The vessel was transporting 2000 tonnes of concrete from Aalborg in Denmark to Runcorn in north-west England when it was discovered upturned.
Seven Polish and one Filipino crew member are believed to be still trapped inside the vessel.
Coastguard and RNLI teams from Thurso and Wick were quickly mobilised but after two days, they were stood down after no trace of survivors.
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch said after remote underwater survey were carried out they did not believe the vessel had any structural problems, leading to the conclusion Cemfjord was overturned by a freak wave.
Around 200 mourners packed St John’s Episcopal Church in Wick for a special memorial service dedicated to the eight seafarers.
The men were: Master Pawel Chruscinski (43); chief officer Jaroslaw Orlow (54); chief engineer Roman Tamas (56); third engineer Jerome Narvasa (32); ordinary seaman Henryk Dubanowski (55); ordinary seaman Tomasz Kwiatkowski (31); able seaman Artur Podrazka (24) and ordinary seaman and cook Artur Wegorek (24).
In July, vessel operators Brise of Hamburg said it was planning to erect a permament memorial at Duncansby Head to commemorate the tragedy.
30 relatives of the crew of the Cemfjord travelled from Poland and the Philippines to Caithness to take part in a special ceremony on a boat in the Pentland Firth last Summer.