THERE WAS PANIC AS THE BOAT SANK'
DAVID RUDGE. Jerusalem Post. Jerusalem: Dec 23, 1990. pg. 01
A welcome shore leave after four months at sea ended in tragedy for scores of American sailors being ferried back to the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga from the Haifa port late Friday night.
Disaster struck around midnight when the Israeli-owned launch Al Tuvia was waiting just 30 meters from the carrier while sailors aboard another, larger, ferry disembarked onto the ship.
Suddenly, for reasons still not clear, the smaller craft capsized.
Shocked crew members aboard the Saratoga watched in horror as dozens of their comrades were hurled into the cold winter waters of the Mediterranean, over one nautical mile from shore.
In the space of 15 - 20 seconds, the Al Tuvia sank, taking with it many more sailors who had been trapped on the lower deck.
"More and more water came aboard and then, all of a sudden, tons of water rushed in. The boat started sinking and there was panic," said one of the survivors. "Everybody started trying to get out through the windows. There were five or ten people trying to crawl out through one tiny window.
"I made it, thank God, but when I looked up all I could see was dark water above me. I paddled my way up and grabbed onto the somebody's leg and he pulled me up," the young sailor told reporters as he recuperated at Haifa's Rambam Hospital.
The skipper and crew of the larger ferry, the Carmelit, watched helplessly as the Al Tuvia began to ship water and suddenly "turned turtle." The Carmelit's skipper radioed an SOS to the harbor and immediately began searching for survivors.
One of the rescued American sailors swam underneath the overturned Al Tuvia to reach the surface, where he and another sailor clung to a life-raft and waited to be picked up.
"The first (rescue) boat went straight over our float, but after that he came back and took us ashore," he said.
"I thought I was going to die," said another survivor after receiving treatment, warm drinks and clothing at Rambam. He said he had spent nearly an hour in the water, waiting and hoping to be rescued.
Within nine minutes of the alarm being raised, the Israel Navy, Air Force, harbor authorities and emergency services swung into action, aided by helicopters and rescue boats from the Saratoga.
An IAF plane flew dozens of sorties, dropping flares over the scene, lighting up the night sky.
Helicopters buzzed overhead, their searchlights stabbing the water as Israel Navy ships and rubber dinghies, coastal police boats and tugs from the Saratoga, crisscrossed the area.
Israel Navy commander Rear Admiral Micha Ram said that more than 500 Navy and Air Force personnel were involved in the rescue operations, as well as scores of police, harbor workers, volunteers and Magen David Adom workers.
Dozens of sailors were plucked from the water. Some were taken directly back to the Saratoga, although most were brought ashore where a fleet of MDA ambulances waited on the jetty to take them to Rambam, Rothschild and Carmel hospitals.
The ambulance crews worked tirelessly as boats continued to bring cold, soaked and shocked survivors to shore, as long as three hours after the disaster.
One of the last to come ashore was a young sailor, his sodden civilian clothes clinging to him. He gave the first inkling as to the possbile cause of the tragedy.
"There were too many people crammed into the stern on the starboard side, where they were waiting to get off," he said, his teeth chattering despite being wrapped in a blanket.
"The boat started taking water and it didn't stop. Then she suddenly capsized. I'd been on top and I was one of the first thrown into the water," he added.
He was also one of the last to be rescued, despite the efforts which continued throughout the long night and into the morning.
Two bodies were recovered from the water during the night. Seventeen more were brought up by Israeli Navy divers from inside the wreck and from the immediate vicinity of the sinking.
The divers, who began their gruesome task at first light, found at least six of the bodies still inside the cabin of the wrecked boat, which was lying on the seabed, some 20 meters below the surface.
Eigty-one of the 100 U.S. sailors who had been aboard the Al Tuvia were rescued, in addition to the boat's Israeli skipper Yossi Shohad and his Israeli crewman.
"I've no doubt the casualty rate would have been much, much higher, had it not been for the swift and efficient response of the Israel Navy, Air Force and emergency services," said Benny Fuchs, manager of the passenger terminal at the Haifa port.
The Israel Navy officers operated in close coordination with their U.S. counterparts, constantly relaying messages to one another.
Helicopters from the Saratoga and many small U.S. craft played a prominent role in the search and rescue operations.
On shore, U.S. Navy officers had the task of trying to account for all the sailors who had been ashore, as well as registering the names of all the survivors.
Their task was complicated by the fact that over 1,000 sailors returned to the port from their night on the town while the rescue operations were still in progress.
Deputy Commander Shlomo Shamir, head of the Haifa port police, said they had received first word of the disaster at 12:15 a.m.
"We immediately organized our operations on shore, with the coastal police and in coordination with Haifa police, Navy, Air Force, the port authorities and emergency services to conduct searches and rescue survivors," he told reporters.
"Simultaneously with the sea searches, police patrolled beaches around the Haifa bay in case any survivors might be washed ashore."
The rescue operations could be clearly seen from the lookout tower at the Haifa port, where Menashe Halfon was on duty. He was the first person to receive the SOS.
Halfon estimated the windstrength at 15 - 18 knots, normal for this time of year.
Several of the sailors who had been involved in the ferry operations that night said they had warned the U.S. Navy officials against going out because of the heavy seas.
Al Tuvia skipper Shohad reportedly decided to take no risks and had only allowed 100 sailors on board, instead of the 132 passengers the ferry was legally permitted to carry.
Colleagues, who described Shohad as a veteran and highly responsible seaman, said he had acted correctly.
He told police and harbor officials that the boat had started taking water astern, and then a big wave hit her and she turned turtle and sank in seconds.
Port officials noted that the Al Tuvia, owned by the Ogen company, a subsidiary of Solel Boneh, had been in service since around 1976 and was "in good shape."