Latest update January 17th, 2025 6:30 AM
Lady Northcote catches fire at sea
– all passengers reach shore safely
Passengers onboard the Lady Northcote coming from Port Kaituma to Port Georgetown were given the scare of their lives after fire broke out on the vessel.
The fire broke out around 16:00 hours yesterday when the Captain of the vessel was forced to contact officials at Port Georgetown for assistance to bring the vessel into the Transport and Harbors, Kingston Wharf.
Transport Minister Robeson Benn said the fire was caused by a diesel leak.
Some of the relieved passengers after disembarking the Lady Northcote which caught afire late yesterday afternoon.
“The vessel was entering Port Georgetown and approaching the goods wharf. There was a leak of diesel from a faulty valve on an exhaust manifold that caught a fire, burn the window of the pipes to the fuel tanks and the entire engine room caught a fire,” Minister Benn explained.
Benn further explained that because of the leaking fuel on the one engine, the captain was forced to stop the second engine. The Minister further explained that all of the crew members got involved and they used up all the fire extinguishers onboard to put out the fire while the captain went through the fire drill with the passengers. By that time all of the passengers were fitted with life jackets. Benn said that all 49 passengers and 13 crewmembers were accounted for. No one was injured and only a vehicle on the deck of the vessel was scorched.
Benn added that it took the crew members at least 20 minutes to put out the fire by which time another vessel had reached the location and began towing the Lady Northcote to the wharf.
Commenting on the extent of the damage to the engine Benn said that the department will have to wait for the engineers to make an assessment.
“As of now we do not know how badly the engines have been damaged; we will have to wait until they are opened.”
Benn further lamented that it is his hope that the vessel can be put back into operation soon while noting that it has been one of their oldest vessel having being into operation for some 69 years. He however noted that finding spare parts has been an issue given the age of the vessel.
“We have been offering this service to Port Kaituma for close to three years after it was out for some 20 years and we hope that this incident doesn’t cause the service to stop.”
Meanwhile, several passengers on board said the experience was very terrifying for them since from the outset the journey seemed never ending. One passenger said that given the time the vessel took before they could see Port Georgetown he knew something was wrong with the vessel, which left Port Kaituma since 06:00 hours on Friday.
“Normally this boat woulda reach Georgetown by midday today (Saturday) but the water was rough bad and this boat tek really long,” one passenger said.
“I was bathing in the bathroom and when I run out I see the place in fire. They need to change this boat. It has been giving problem,” said another passenger Myrtle Williams.
One woman who was shaken said that she is not sure about ever making another trip on the river. The woman said that since the boat left Port Kaituma “something just felt wrong”.
Amidst tears the woman said to calm herself she decided to sleep through the journey but was awaken by screams of “fire”.
“When I wake up I hear people screaming for fire and I jump down from a vehicle and the captain keep saying don’t panic and I put on a life jacket.”
Nonetheless, the passengers were all thankful to see land. By the time they arrived at Port Georgetown most of them had relatives waiting at the wharf.
However, members of the media were barred from entering the compound to see the extent of the damage to the vessel. At the wharf was a fire tender from the Guyana Fire Service but it did not have to go into operation.
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