Wednesday 10 December 2008

Outrage to follow as Master and C/O sentenced to jail terms

Please note judgement handed down in Korea this afternoon regarding Samsung No1 crane barge smashing (out of control) along the port side hull of the anchored Hebei Spirt, causing 3 holes in the fully laden oil tanks. Related parties said: Initially all we can say is: "all of the parties related to the Hebei Spirit are very disappointed of course and find the reasons given for the decision - like both of the KMST Reports - technically flawed and are considering our options"

Hebei Spirit Master
Reasons for judgement:
Engine work not done correctly
Master should have gone full astern to drag anchor
On charge re Oil Spill prevention
Guilty
Inert Gas increased spillage and should not have been done
Low explosive risk
3.5 hours was too long
Could have listed to 10 degrees which would have prevented oil spill
Jail Term: 1.5 years & W20m Fine

HS Chief Officer
Reasons for judgement:
Should have been more vigilant and called master by 0550 at latest
On charge re Oil Spill prevention
Guilty
Inert Gas increased spillage and should not have been done
Low explosive risk
3.5 hours was too long
Could have listed to 10 degrees which would have prevented oil spill

Jail Term: 8 months W12m Fine
Owner - Hebei Shipping Co Ltd - W30 million fine
Author: Justice for Hebei Spirit At 16:19

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous10 December 2008 at 21:21

    Are all the merchant mariners gonna keep quite about this or is something likely to be done??? Today it is Capt. Chawla & C/O Chetan Syam, tomorrow it could be anyone of you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous11 December 2008 at 10:49

    This is an outrage. What did these guys do wrong! To be re-tried on flawed evidence is a sham! Seafarers need to stand up and be counted on this one, there by the grace of god goes everyone of us!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown11 December 2008 at 13:48

    THIS IS HIGH TIME NOW AND ALL MARINERS / SHIPPING COMMUNITY SHOULD THINK ABOUT BANNING KOREAN WATER AND PORTS TILL Capt. Chawla & C/O Chetan Syam GETS RELEASED BY COURT.

    ReplyDelete
  4. sudkjain11 December 2008 at 14:51

    Rather than playing blame game and crucifying innocent men, industry should device means like vacuum plugs etc to contain such spillage in future.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous11 December 2008 at 19:16

    this is ridiculous, how can innocent men be crucified for no fault of theirs, just because a big multinational like samsung is involved.Justice should be done at the earliest and Chetan and the Captain should be released and sent home immidiately.

    Pravin mathew

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11 December 2008 at 19:28

    Calling for indians to support against the injustice , two mariners being sentence to imprisionment in south Korea must be relaesed immediately ... the indian govt. must act fast and commence a dialoge with Koreans . Chetan and Chawla must be free ...

    Abhijit Sanyal.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous12 December 2008 at 00:39

    All wrong is being done on the part of all the people associated with putting the capt and C/O behind bars. This is not fair when there was no fault of theirs. They should be sent home asap.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous12 December 2008 at 00:43

    I am dumping my Samsung MP3 player, cell phone and the Flat Screen Television which I just bought!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous12 December 2008 at 15:26

    It's nothing but gross injustice!!! Two lone Indians have been made scapegoat to let the Industrial giant out scot free. We need justice and we need it now!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous20 December 2008 at 11:52

    THE ACTION TAKEN BY THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH KOREA IS A CHILDISH DECEISION. THEY CANNOT HOLD THE CREW RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THE MISTAKE. THE OTHER PARTY IS ALSO AT FAULT BY NOT RECONFIRMING WHAT DEGREE THE H.S. WAS? ANYWAYS, I HOPE AND EXPECT THAT SOUTH KOREAN SUPREME COURT WILL STUDY THE MATTER NICELY AND WILL TRY TO GIVE BEST JUSTICE TO THE TWO POOR CHAPS. ALSO I HOPE THE INDIAN GOVT WILL TAKE BEST STEPS AND HELP CAPT. CHAWLA AND MR. SYAM CHETAN.
    HAIL INDIA

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous4 January 2009 at 13:57

    I have lived in Korea for nearly 2 years now. Over time, I have gradually become aware of how flawed the justice system is in Korea. Incidentally, there was a recent case of a mentally handicapped girl who had been molested for years by several of her relatives. The court found the relatives in question guilty and sentenced them for a number of years in jail. However, it then completely commuted their jail time. The reason given for commuting the jail sentences was that the mentally handicapped girl needs someone to take care of her! I would not be the least bit surprised if bribery was involved.

    In fact, too often the party with more money or influence wins in court.

    Sadly, it seems that not even cases of international importance have escaped this pattern of injustice.

    ReplyDelete

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