U.S. Navy Faces Class-Action Lawsuit Over Red Hill Spill
In addition to its troubles with state and local regulators in Hawaii, the U.S. Navy may soon face a class-action lawsuit over the recent water contamination event at its Red Hill fuel storage facility, a WWII-era underground tank farm on the outskirts of Honolulu.
On November 20, the facility recently released 17,000 gallons of fuel/water mixture from a ruptured drain line, the result of a "cart crash" inside its tunnels. This resulted in fuel contamination in a water system that supplies 93,000 servicemembers and their families. Since the problem was discovered in early December, about 4,000 personnel have been relocated to temporary housing, and the U.S. Army has stepped up to provide short-term food and drinking water while the Navy works to flush the system.
On Thursday, Honolulu-based attorney Michael Green told local media that the circumstances of the accident are ripe for a class-action lawsuit for servicemembers' dependents. Children, spouses and even pregnant women were exposed to the water, which had concentrations of fuel up to 350 times the state's emergency action level, according to the state department of health.
"I have reason to believe the documents that could go to show the reckless conduct [at Red Hill] - if not criminal conduct - [have] been reclassified by the Navy," Green told local KHON2 News. "So that’s going to make it almost impossible for us to get those documents without a court order."
Navy continues fight against state closure order
Following the discovery of water contamination at Red Hill, Hawaiian Gov. David Ige and the state's health department ordered the Navy to close and drain the facility until it is inspected and proven safe. Hawaiian Deputy Attorney General David Day upheld the order after a series of contentious hearings last week, and the Department of Health will make a final decision on whether it should be executed within 30 days.
The Navy is still fighting the order. On Thursday, it filed a written objection to the hearing officer's findings, arguing that the decision did not lay out a sufficient factual basis to prove that there is an emergency. "There is no evidence in the record showing that [Red Hill] operations pose an inherent risk of causing harm, such that merely resuming operations would automatically give rise to ‘grave risk; jeopardy; danger’ that is ‘likely to occur at any moment,'" argued the Navy's counsel in a detailed 43-page objection.
Honolulu's Bureau of Water Supply, which has fought to close Red Hill for years, called on the Navy to accept the decision. The BWS said that the service's latest objections "largely reiterate the same flawed arguments that were already raised, considered and rejected in full and fair contested case proceeding."
Costa Cruises May Face Further Lawsuits Over Costa Concordia Disaster
A consumer rights association in Italy has won a civil lawsuit against Costa Cruises, securing about $105,000 in compensation for a passenger's post-traumatic stress from the Costa Concordia disaster. To date, Costa Cruises has settled most claims over the casualty out of court, and the case raises the possibility that its billion-dollar liabilities for the grounding and sinking of Costa Concordia might not be over yet.
The Court of Genoa ordered the cruise line to pay Ernesto Carusotti, one of the survivors, a total of $87,000 for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage suffered as a result of the tragedy. Costa was also ordered to pay about $18,000 in legal fees.
Codacons, a consumer rights association based in Genoa, said it is open to the possibility of initiating more legal action against Costa Cruises, with hopes of obtaining compensation for harms suffered by other survivors of the Costa Concordia disaster. In a statement, Codacons called on former passengers of Costa Concordia who would like to sue to contact the association.
The January 2012 Costa Concordia disaster killed 32 people and set off a chaotic evacuation of crew and passengers, some of whom jumped into the sea and swam ashore.
Costa Cruises avoided a criminal trial by agreeing to pay a $1.31 million fine. The cruise line blamed the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, for intentionally navigating too close to shore. Schettino was convicted of multiple counts of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in jail. Investigators severely criticized his handling of the disaster, accusing him of delaying the evacuation and abandoning ship himself before all 4,000 passengers and crew had been rescued.
The Costa Concordia was later righted, refloated and towed to a nearby yard for dismantling and recycling. It was the most complex and expensive wreck removal operation ever attempted, and the final price tag came in at an estimated $1.2 billion.
Top image: The Costa Concordia and her lifeboats at Giglio, Italy, Jan. 14, 2012 (Roberto Vongher / CC BY-SA 3.0)
Bangladeshi Ferry's Owners Run From the Law After Fatal Fire
Seven shipowners and senior officers connected to the ferry Abhijan-10 (Expedition-10) are on the run after a deadly fire broke out aboard the vessel on Friday night, according to local media. One owner has already been arrested in connection with the disaster, and the other three are wanted by the police, along with four previous captains.
Survivors told media that the fire broke out while passengers were sleeping, and that the smoke suffocated many of the victims. Others died after jumping over the side. All told, the disaster killed 39 people and left about 100 more injured. The search for 29 missing passengers continues, and the death toll could potentially rise.
The owners are wanted for their role in several alleged deficiencies that may have contributed to the death toll. According to Bangladeshi officials, the ferry was carrying at least 280 more passengers than permitted under its operating license - about 40 percent over rated capacity - at the time of the fire. In addition, a police official told AFP that the investigation is looking into passengers' claims that there were not enough fire extinguishers or life jackets on board. The inquiry will also examine whether the crew's response to the fire was timely.
"We spoke to the survivors and they said the driver of the ferry kept the vessel moving for nearly an hour after its engine room caught fire," marine police officer Mahbubur Rahman told AFP. "Had they stopped the ferry and anchored immediately, it could have saved all these valuable lives."
If caught, tried and convicted, the vessel's owners and captains could face up to $5,800 in fines each and a maximum prison sentence of up to five years.
Fatal ferry accidents are a common occurrence in Bangladesh. On the nation's busy inland waterways, passenger vessels play a major role in everyday transportation, and the safety culture on the waterfront is relatively relaxed. Overloading is a frequently-cited contributing factor in the worst accidents, and the loss of unregistered passengers often makes the true death toll difficult to estimate.
In August, at least 21 people were killed when a ferry struck a sand barge near Bijoynagar, Bangladesh. The force of the collision caused the ferry to capsize, throwing the 50-60 passengers into the water. In May, a passenger speedboat traveling from Munshiganj to Madaripur struck a sand barge, killing at least 26 and wounding five. Five more were believed missing.
In April, a collision between a ferry and a passing cargo ship killed at least 27 people in Dhaka, with at least seven more missing. In June 2020, 32 people were killed when the ferry Morning Bird was struck from behind by another vessel as she was leaving the busy Sadarghat terminal on the Buriganga River.
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