The Island Escape ferry was involved in an accident on Monday night and certainly will need time before it resumes transporting passengers. According to the ferry crew, the control system failed, which caused it to drift for a while and soon after, collided with the docked cruise ship Aida Luna, at St John’s Harbour, Antigua. The owner of the Island Escape ferry, Captain Mark Rosandich, stated that no one was injured during the accident and the damage on his vessel will take a few days to repair. 

“The cause of the control failure has already been diagnosed and is being rectified. It is anticipated the ferry will be back in service by the end of the week,” he said. 

The engineer of the ferry, Adian Gittens reported to the owner that while heading to Heritage Quay dock at approximately 5:30 pm on Monday, the Island Escape unexpectedly lost control of both port and starboard steering ahead and astern electro-hydraulic system.

“Although several attempts were made to regain control of the vessel, she made contact with MV AIDA LUNA. Initial checks were made and observation of low voltage was observed at both of the jet control module digital screens,” Gittens said. With the further estimation, he said that it seems the power interlock module sensed a high voltage caused by a malfunctioning battery charger and cut power to both jet control modules. “This caused us to lose control of the vessel until rebooting of the system was done,” he explained.

Roughly calculated, the damage to the ferry would cost around US$15,000 while there are no reports about the damage caused on the cruise ship AidaLuna. This accident should be investigated by the Antigua and Barbuda Department of Marine Services and Merchant Shipping, Port Manager Darwin Telemaque said after which a report will be presented to the Port Authority for commendations. The vessel with capacity of 150 passengers was recently upgraded, as a necessity before recommencing services to Antigua and Barbuda. In order to re-establish the water bridge between Antiqua ad Montserrat, the Island Escape ferry had to go through it so it can obtain international sailing certification.

Photo credit: Steve Freeland Jr.