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Published: December 19th 2007
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Tuesday 27 November 2007 Having toured the temples of Angkor, it was time to head back to Phnom Penh before continuing on to Sihanoukville.
An early morning start saw us picked up by minibus from our hotel at approximately 6:30am to be taken to the ferry terminal - after half an hour of driving around the city picking up other travellers we realised this was once again an exercise of ‘how many people can you fit in a minibus?’ Fortunately it was tourists, so there was one seat per person, except for the last two who got on. Unfortunately for them, they were over 6 foot tall and the bus ceiling was 5 foot 6 inches.
At around 7am we arrived at the ferry terminal, just in time for the scheduled departure. Boarding the boat was not an easy task given the disproportionate size of our packs to the gang-plank used to board the ferry. However we were thankful that our ferry was considerably larger than the one going to Battambang (photo), just south of Siem Reap, as our journey was estimated to be approximately 5 ½ hours long. Due to the long journey and our susceptibility to sunburn,
we decided to take a seat on the lower deck as opposed to a sunny windy ride on the upper deck (photo) which entailed sitting on the roof and hanging on to a small rail. After taking our seats, refreshments were offered by women from the local fishing village including water, baguettes, cheese and bananas. The ferry was allowed to depart at approximately 8am - only after enough bananas had been purchased!
We set off at a slow speed, through the narrow river, past fishing villages, mangroves, etc and then picked up speed once we reached Tonle Sap Lake which joins the Mekong River in the south. About 15-20 mins after our departure some of the passengers at the front lower deck became a little uncomfortable when a small stream of water began leaking onto the lower passenger deck from under the staircase near their seats. After a short time there was a couple of inches of water sloshing around the lower deck. The boat had now stopped to allow the captain to jump over the edge in his boxer shorts to have a swim and see if he could find the problem. A hole was found in the
side of the boat above the water line about the size of a small football. In the interim, the passengers had begun chanting ‘turn back, turn back’ and desperately searching for life jackets. Unfortunately there weren’t enough. A later headcount showed approximately 125 passengers (including about a dozen Khmer and the rest tourists) and about 6 crew. There were lifejackets available for only about half that number. In an effort to relieve the heat in the cabin while the boat wasn’t moving (and to prepare for possible evacuation) some passengers unsuccessfully tried to open the windows which doubled as emergency exits - from the outside of the boat it could be seen that they had been sealed shut to prevent spray. It was decided that the crew should take a look under the passenger deck. This was easier said than done. It took about 20 mins to remove a row of seats, chisel paint and undo about a dozen bolts to open the access panel. Once the panel was removed it was unfortunately obvious that the entire hull of the boat was full of water right up to the lower passenger deck. The bilge pump was apparently not working so
the crew grabbed a portable pump, which didn’t work and then another which did work. It was a very small pump (photo) - in the words of one of the passengers: ‘I’ve had showers with more pressure than that pump!’ This pump was not nearly enough to empty the water. A ‘bucket brigade’ was then organised to assist the pump so that the water could be emptied enough to make some dodgy repairs to the hull using cloth, wood and a rubber thong (photo).
While attempts were made to keep the boat afloat, we were also preparing for the worst and many calls for distress had been made using mobile telephones available. After about 4 ½ hours of bucketing, negotiating with crew to seek land, and trying to avoid outright panic, we were finally rescued by the police who seized the boat and landed it at Kampong Chhung (at the mouth of the Tonle Sap river) where the Chief of Police decided that the boat could go nowhere until it had been repaired. Passengers quickly exited the boat and caught a taxi the rest of the way to Phnom Penh. It appears that the boat company may have been
tipped off about the police seizure because they were ready at the dock with a pump and welder (photo).
We could go on for hours recounting every detail of this terrible experience, but we won’t because doing so is quite stressful in itself. In short, we were stuck in the middle of a very bleak scenario, a scenario which unfortunately is not uncommon due to the poor enforcement of safety standards. Our commendation goes out to every one of the 125 passengers the boat that day who put the survival of total strangers ahead of their own instinct for self-preservation. Whether it was out of bravery, humanity or sheer terror, everyone did their bit that day to ensure the survival of all and for that we are truly thankful.
An article was apparently published in the Cambodia Daily a short time afterwards. In the true tradition of great cover-ups, there was no mention of the captain’s refusal to turn back or seek land, no mention of the poor condition of the boat, no mention of the lack of life jackets, and no mention of the emergency exits being sealed shut. Instead, the story spoke of western tourists hijacking
a Cambodian boat. In the story, the boat company stated that the tourists had overreacted despite the port authority stating that the boat was definitely going to sink.
Once we arrived in Phnom Penh, we had already missed our connecting bus to Sihanoukville so we stayed the night in a hotel with some fellow passengers and we all drank and dined in the manner that people do after such an experience (photo). Fortunately for our wallets (and Michael’s head), G&T’s at the FCC are relatively cheap (and high quality).
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