Ship's crew won't talk to Coast Guard Explosion investigation slowed by silence A Coast Guard investigator says surviving crewmen of the Bow Mariner refuse to answer questions and their employer hasn't responded to requests for information about the ship, which exploded and sank off the coast of Virginia 11 days ago. "Not one piece of paper has been given to us that we asked for," Jerry Crooks, Coast Guard chief of investigations, said of the ship's managing company, Ceres Hellenic Shipping Enterprises. As for the crewmen, "Their lawyers are telling them not to answer our questions," said Crooks, explaining that they had invoked their constitutional right against self-incrimination. "We respect their Fifth Amendment right. But until they tell me what they know, I can't figure out what happened on that ship that day." ... "The other two were a chief cook and messmate who were in the galley during the explosion," he said. "They could only tell us about their escape and rescue." A spokesman for Ceres Hellenic said his company would supply information by the subpoena deadline on Friday...."The explosion on the Bow Mariner was seen 14 miles away," said Crooks. "What if that had happened inside a U.S. port?" In other developments, a 226-foot response ship called the Powhatan arrived at the wreckage site. The ship dispatches a submersible vessel with cameras that can videotape the wreck and even enter the ship to search for victims. But poor weather offshore could pose a challenge to recovery efforts this week. Click Here to see full story NORFOLK — An investigation into the explosion and sinking of the tanker Bow Mariner is being hampered by lawyers who refuse to allow investigators to interview survivors, the Coast Guard said. “At this point, we are barely under way,” Jerry Crooks, chief investigator for the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Office in Norfolk, said Monday of the 10-day-old probe. “Our investigation is stalled.” Click Here to see full story....
Comments