The Story Of The Achille Lauro

on the 30th of november 1994 the italian cruise ship akili laro met an abrupt and tragic fate with almost a thousand people on board with a deadly fire out of control and the vessel drifting over a hundred miles away from the coast a hastily cobbled together rescue effort was put into effect and miraculously saved nearly everyone on board but it wasn't smooth sailing up to this point either as akililaro had a very troubled past and really had seen it all through her decades of service so join me as i discover not only the history of this astonishing liner but what actually happened that fateful night digitally reconstruct the sinking and talk to a very special person who was on board the ship and helped save hundreds of lives this is the story of the achilles laro special videos like this have been made possible by my supporters on patreon go to patreon.com bsf to support the channel and get exclusive perks it all began in a shipyard in the southern netherlands it was 1939 and a brand new liner was being constructed called the wilhelm rice named after the grandson of the shipping line rotterdam sir lloyd's founder the construction however was delayed indefinitely due to bombing raids from world war ii shockingly though the vessel came out of the war rather unscathed because of this construction was able to resume following the war and the william rise sailed out for her maiden voyage on december 5th 1947. coming in at 630 feet long and 82 feet wide the vessel was decently sized at 21 100 tons really though it was her design that was so notable with the sleek low profile smokestacks and her extremely innovative lower deck aluminum lifeboats this was a design that would be later adopted by pretty much all modern day cruise ships and the william rise was one of if not the first liner to feature this lower lifeboat design the vessel became popular for its transport routes through indonesia and was later put on the transatlantic route from new york and canada her owner and operator royal rotterdam sir lloyd signed a deal with the netherlands lined in 1958 creating a joint venture between the two companies with plans for using the william rise for both transport and pleasure cruising so she was sent to amsterdam and refitted into a cruise ship along with the necessary additions of the time like air conditioning and underwater stabilizers now dropping the four class distinctions the vessel set off for service between australia and new zealand just five years later though these new cruises and routes proved to be not as favorable with the sudden rise and popularity of air travel so the lines had put the william rise up for sale a year later in 1965 she was purchased by a company called flota laro lines the william rise was renamed to the akili laro appropriately after the owner of that company with this new purchase the owners brought the laro into drydock and embarked on an extensive rebuild gutting large sections of the ship and modernizing many of the mechanical systems and even sections of the superstructure this wasn't without issue however as the ship suffered an explosion and caught fire in august of 1965. while this delayed the original launch date the new and improved aquililaro set sail once again from australia in 1966. laro was now a very different liner one that had been reformatted for this modern cruise era and many of the vintage features of the ship like the forward and aft masts were removed she was designed now to look like a very sleek and modern italian liner most notably was her new livery painted in the cruise line signature blue with tall sleek smokestacks two pools were now fitted on the aft sundecks and one of the most luxurious additions were private balconies which were not only rare for the time but extremely rare for refitted ocean liners with their updated interiors and more modern amenities the vessel became popular with european tourists in april of 1975 the cruise line collided with a livestock carrier called the yusuf the cargo ship ultimately sank yet akili laro sailed away pretty much fine the ship was later chartered for cruises around south africa and there yet another fire broke out on board temporarily halting it from service at the same time of this fire the flota lora line had gone bankrupt and the achille lara was repaired and then laid up until she was brought back to italy thanks to government intervention chandras lines ultimately chartered the vessel for the time being in 1985. her reputation though would only get worse in the same year as the ship was about to make worldwide news on october 7th 1985 the ship was hijacked by four militant members of the palestine liberation front the passengers were held hostage as the achillero was directed to sail to syria as the hijackers demanded the immediate release of 50 palestinians who were being held in israel ultimately the terrorists killed american passenger leon klinghoeffer after they were denied port access after several days of negotiations the terrorist abandoned ship and they were later caught and imprisoned all remaining passengers and crew were then safely evacuated and the remaining cruises of the year were cancelled as the interiors of the laro sustained quite a bit of damage the events of the hijacking ultimately led to the sigonella crisis between the american and italian governments and the achillar had now solidified quite a dramatic legacy however it was only about to get more dramatic from here through the next few years the akili laro returned to regular cruise service in various different locations around the world in 1989 she was purchased by star laro cruises which was also just acquired by the mediterranean shipping company or msc they were attempting to enter the cruise business and star laro with their two ships was going to be the beginnings of this new venture by the early 1990s the aquililaro had been sailing longer specialty cruises around the world and was really beloved by many in november of 1994 the vessel left genoa italy bound for the tropical seashells after stopping in egypt the ship made its way through the suez canal and rounded the horn of africa bound for the tropical islands on board the achille lara was entertainer moss hills and his wife now the name moss hills may sound familiar to some of you and that's because he was the guitarist on board the infamous oceanos yes moss hills was the hero aboard the astonishing sinking just three years prior he also happened to be the guitarist on the akililaro it was just after midnight and moss and his wife were performing in one of the ship's lounges achille laro was sailing in calm seas around 150 miles off the coast of somalia a few passengers came up to moss and informed him that they saw smoke on the pool deck that is a little odd so went up they went up some staircases to go and have a look and we could smell that sort of smoke not a normal engine smoke more like a fire and then there were a couple of crew there who were saying that there is a fire we want to get one the fire hoses out so i helped them spraying water onto that this however proved to be not as effective as they thought and actually only hindered what they were trying to put out see the fire that was burning below was coming from the engine room and was oil based putting water on a fire like that would only make things worse shortly after this the captain made the decision to bring all passengers to the top decks and prepare everyone to abandon ship if the fire continued to rage out of control guests began to congregate on the decks while the ship's entertainers kept everyone calm all while the power had gone out and the achille arrow drifted across the pitch black sea through the night the crew battled the fire by first creating a chain and using pool water to subdue the flames at the top of the funnel meanwhile passengers were in a waiting period as launching the lifeboats during the pitch black was likely deemed to be too dangerous pretty much everyone on deck was watching the crew lose their battle by sunrise the ship had now begun to list on her port side with all the water collecting below while fighting the fire this certainly frightened passengers and the reality that they may have to abandon ship started to worry those who had important items in their cabins to which they were now barred from going back to one of the guests um was getting quite frantic because he said look i have to get back to my cabin i've got medicine in there that i need i need to take medicine regularly if we have to abandon the ship without my medicine i'll i'll die so eventually i said to him look tell me your cabin number i'm going to see if i can go and try and get your medicine for you so i went and got some of the pool towels and lots of pool towels around dipped them in the water the pool wrap them around my sort of upper body and then right around my head and my face just sort of leaving a gap for my eyes and i'm breathing through this wet towel i was making my way down that passageway came to a fire screen door you've got this sort of rotary handle turn that pull the fire screen door open saw there was no fire the other side but just full of smoke i could hardly breathe carried on down there but the smoke was so thick i simply could not breathe i just was i was choking i i was really quite frightened i thought you know i've got to get out i've got to be able to breathe i can't breathe turned around i started heading back and got to the fire screen door again but i couldn't open it the handle on this side seemed to be broken over feeling that sort of shock of fear that you feel i remember thinking when i know this ship well i know that there's a small bar on this deck that serves the pool deck so if i can find my way to that bar i should be able to get through the bar over the bar counter and outside found my way to that door it was open i did get into that bar climbed over the counter and got out onto the open pool deck when we did eventually get into lifeboats and were floating around the ocean and took a long time to get picked up and then when we did get picked up he still didn't have medication and he actually did die back on deck the smoke had only gotten worse and the crew's rather futile attempts to keep it at bay by throwing small buckets of water on it were probably doing nothing finally with the list of the ship worsening the decision was made to start bringing groups of passengers down to the lifeboats for launching our staff members and officers are going to start guiding you slowly to the lifeboat please do remain calm we have enough time and enough boats through the morning lifeboat by lifeboat filled with scared passengers were lowered into the water but even for them this ordeal wasn't over as the aquililaro was drifting over a hundred miles away from any land it would be hours until one of the rescue ships contacted by the crew would arrive by now all but two lifeboats had been launched moss hills was one of the last groups of people assigned to these final two lifeboats by now the fire was raging out of control and thick black smoke was pouring out of the bottom of almost every door and through almost every exhaust vent on board it's truly a terrifying sight to see but when we got to these two lifeboats we actually got into them and then somehow the fire was raging out of control in decks way below us that we couldn't see but the fire blew out some of the portholes down below there and the flames just shot out of the side of the ship below us and there were all these flames underneath the lifeboats where we were basically we were getting barbecued by now the pool deck was enveloped by smoke and the disco lounge was completely on fire next to it over 150 people were still on board the achille laro with no proper lifeboats to get them off moss and the crew let everyone down to the aft rope decks where there was much less smoke there they knew they could utilize the inflatable life rafts and use a rope ladder to climb down to them so one by one they tossed the heavy tubes that contain the rafts over the side of the railing then we went to go and do the second one and as i said okay now push it over as we pushed it over somehow there was a lifeboat that was trapped onto the side of the ship this lifeboat suddenly came out on a swell it hit a couple of the guests but it hit one guess very badly i could just hear people screaming the life but i remember looking as we pushed it over we were looking to see make sure that it inflated properly and suddenly saw that lifeboat appear and those few seconds are so fused in my mind and it's a horrifying memory as it just went down and hit them we could just hear people screaming and then the lifeboats started inflating it's inflating over the people they're trying to push it out of the way we can just see blood and this this poor gentleman like hanging over the side of it and oh my word anyway um he he did not survive that impact it was now time to start climbing down to these rafts and the passengers were faced with a difficult task they had to hoist their legs very carefully over the railing and slowly climb down the swinging rope ladder around 50 feet because of the aft design of the aquililaro the hull began to shape inwards towards the keel so the last 15 or so feet the latter would be just swinging in open air from there you'd have to swim a short distance to the inflatable rafts where crew members had been set to assist as you'd imagine some passengers especially those who were elderly struggled with this rather intense escape plan really though this was their only choice as the remaining passengers and crew had essentially been cornered by the fire and were trapped this was the only way to get off the burning cruise ship finally with the aquililaro listing now at around 20 degrees the captain and his officers were the last men on board the ship coordinating the rescue finally at around 11 a.m in the morning they too descended down the rope ladder and were set adrift i saw looking up at the kililara and it's right there next to us and it's it's so it's so big it's so much higher than us with these little things floating there we're still tied to the side of it just smoke and flame everywhere was up it was a horrifying sight that that was that was our home i know that ship so well it's in my heart i love the blue lady as the laro slowly crept away from them the true reality of what they had just been on set in visible and climbing flames now shot out of the vessel starboard side superstructure mixing in ominous black smoke by now most of the passengers in the lifeboats which had motors were picked up by ironically an oil carrier called the hawaiian king an american naval vessel also came to the aid of others and rescued them from the sea for moss and the others in the raft group however it would be hours until another ship that had the capacity to rescue them came to their aid and what a birthday and what a birthday i'll never forget this one it's now exactly 25 minutes past 12. check out the new watch and check out the old ship that turned out to be a smaller cement carrier where they had finally been brought aboard in the distance the aquililaro continued to burn completely out of control and without the chance of saving her you could actually see the very place where the final number of passengers and crew had been trapped when getting off it was now completely engulfed with flames and smoke and really shows how desperate and perilous their escape was soon moss went to go coordinate with the various rescue ships and communicating with the crew for roll calls for all the survivors as night fell there was a sense of good spirits among some yet still a long journey to get back to land on board the deck of a cargo ship in the distance the pitch black ocean was only illuminated by the flames of the burning ship in the distance helicopters brought in supplies for the survivors as the achillero faded away from view by the following morning the passengers and crew of the stricken liner were finally brought to port and everyone's ordeal was finally over in the same morning flights were made back out to capture the states of the laro overnight and the results were shocking the fire still rapidly burning had completely destroyed the vessel with smoke billowing out of the ship the whole decks and super structure had been completely charred it wouldn't be until a day after when a fire tugboat was sent out to try and tow the vessel however according to the official report the achillero exploded capsized and sank at around 6 10 pm on december 2nd 1994. it had been around 42 hours since the fire began and the blue lady had finally slipped beneath the waves there are no known photos or videos that captured this final plunge for such a beloved vessel in the end there were 577 passengers on board with 402 crew after all the survivors had been counted four people had perished two from medical events while being rescued one who took a blow to the head and another passenger who went missing while trying to return to their cabin in the end the tragedy made worldwide news the ship had such a tumultuous history especially with fire and had finally succumbed to one after further analysis of what happened it was reported that it may have been a burst piston head in one of the ship's eight diesel engines which had been running since 1944. later though it was deemed that the issue could have been caused by a crankcase explosion also in the main engines this would have allowed cooling oil to enter the exhaust and thus an intense oil fire according to moss however the fire was at one point fully extinguished however because of the many hot spots in the area it had the ability to reignite with the co2 designed to extinguish the fire not able to handle it there really wasn't much the crew could do about it but the captain and senior officers did prove to be extremely vital in facilitating the abandoned ship i don't think anyone's gonna argue that they didn't try their hardest to save the vessel the water being sprayed and pumped down into the engine room and surrounding areas had caused the ship to list and later on the fire had become so intense that it burst through the glass of the portholes this is the prevailing theory on how the ship ultimately went down it's very possible that the fire burned out of control resulting in more uneven weights resulted in a steeper list where water entered through one of these open portholes the tugboat there to assist also claimed to hear an explosion which could have been water mixing with the super hot steel below or perhaps something else exploded within like a boiler and created a breach in the hull which caused the ship to capsize either way there likely wasn't much that could have been done to save the ship moss hills had now survived and became the hero of two cruise ship disasters just three years apart not only was moss on board but so was the late robin boltmann who was also an entertainer aboard the oceanos in 1991. it's absolutely astonishing that they both experienced an extremely rare tragedy twice but i bet the passengers on board were extremely glad they did moss hills now given his past experience once again went above and beyond his duties as an onboard entertainer and without a doubt saved lives the crew were also praised for their orderly and somewhat smooth evacuation but what about the aquilaro and the line who owned her well starlaro ended up collecting 11 million pounds on insurance just a year later though starlaro was renamed to msc cruises in 1995. the company ultimately went on to building purpose-built ships in the early 2000s now they're the third largest cruise line in the world by fleet size with decent ships as for the akili lauro herself well she's never actually been found from what i understand there hasn't been much of an attempt to find the wreck due to its location 125 miles off the coast of somalia the depth is also a very limiting factor as the location of where the ship is now resting is some 4 500 meters or 14 000 feet below the surface of the arabian sea for comparison that's deeper than the wreck of the titanic i think there's a strong likelihood that the achille larrow may never be found again and has been lost forever looking back at the achillero it's fascinating to see such a brutal infamous and controversial service catching fire multiple times laid up with no future twice and making international headlines another two times for less than favorable reasons but on the flip side there were so many quirks about her that made the ship so special from its beginnings dodging world war ii bombing raids even before she touched water all the way to her striking blue hole and being known as the blue lady every time she entered port the crew would play the song lenave blue which essentially was the ship's unofficial theme song it's then where you start to feel sad for such a loss a rather undignified one for such a beloved vessel but despite the loss of life the last hour she was afloat saw people come together and try their best to ensure there was as many survivors as possible as we now know the time they had before potentially lethal fire reached them was minimal and despite the danger passengers and crew persevered but now with the ship literally lost to the sea and likely never to be seen again it's up to those who are still alive today to remember the grand blue lady the achille laro little sailor party [Music] [Music] bye [Music] you

Channel: Bright Sun Films

Views: 709,260

Keywords: ship sinking, bright sun films ship, ship disaster, pg, clean, family friendly, Moss Hills, Oceanos, Achille Lauro sinking, cruise ship fire, home video, real footage, sinking footage, CGI, real time sinking, history, interview, cruise ship sinking, achelle lauro, hijacking, cruise ship crash, caught on camera, sinking of the Achille Lauro, new, 2022, 2021, 2023, cruise ship documentary

Id: h-7RGBfR4Cs

Length: 24min 10sec (1450 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 29 2021