Photos shared with OnTheWight by one of the passengers onboard the Wightlink ferry involved in the collapsed car deck incident on Friday night reveal what appears to be a sheared cable.
Officials from Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) have been carrying out investigations on the vessel over the weekend and a spokesperson for Wightlink say they hope the MAIB will be reporting back to them tomorrow (Monday).
Quick thinking
Capturing the photo was down to the quick thinking of Islander, Matt Jones, who was on the St Helen starboard mezzanine deck when the incident occurred.
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It’s unclear if the cable is sheared (it would be unusual to have a cable like that hanging around normally), or if the cable is related to the incident – the investigator’s report will reveal all.
As has been confirmed by Wightlink since the incident occurred on Friday evening, as the ramp from the mezzanine deck was being lowered down to the main deck, the left-hand side of the ramp suddenly dropped several feet.
Matt was one of those who had to attend hospital with two other passengers and a member of the Wightlink crew. He told OnTheWight they were all still coming to terms with what had happened.
OnTheWight speaks to another passenger
A passenger on the port side of the ferry, told OnTheWight she was the last car on the lower deck of the ferry, waiting for lorries to alight, when she heard an ‘almighty bang’.
Click on the image to see larger version
As she drove off, she looked in her rear-view mirror. She saw that nothing was underneath the collapsed deck, but that passengers were already out of their cars on the fallen deck.
A few moments later a member of Wightlink staff ran over to the port side shouting out, “Call the bridge!” to the other staff who were directing the final passengers off the ferry.
Image: © With kind permission of Matt Jones
