Bow Doors Apparently Opened on Ferry : But Ship’s Owners Are Still Unsure What Caused the Accident

The chairman of the company that owns the Herald of Free Enterprise said Saturday that he believes the tragic accident was caused by water coming into the bow of the ferry, but insisted, “I do not know precisely how it happened.”

At a crowded and hectic news conference, Peter Ford, chairman of the Townsend Thoresen company, acknowledged that many people believe that water came in through bow doors that were somehow open, and he added that divers had found no hole in the body of the ship.

Moreover, cameramen flying over the capsized ferry in helicopters during the day Saturday returned with clear pictures of the bow doors open.

Ford, who spoke softly and deliberately, said that there had been a lot of talk about the doors bursting open. Earlier, in a television interview, he said, “Somehow, the doors burst open. It sounds like a most unusual thing to happen.”

Ford told the news conference that at least two crewmen had the responsibility of closing the doors after the vehicles were parked inside the ferry. He said he believes that the doors do not close manually but are locked by pressing a button.

He said he believes that the two crewmen responsible for the doors survived the accident and will testify at future inquiries in Britain and in Belgium.

The chairman said that the ferry would not normally sail with its bow doors extending below the waterline and that “obviously one would not sail with the doors open.”

Survivors talked about the swiftness of the disaster, which came upon them a few minutes after the ferry left the Zeebrugge harbor.

“We were playing cards,” said a British woman in a hospital in nearby Brugge, the capital of West Flanders province, “and suddenly the cards fell off the table, and the boat was on its side.”

“It took 40 seconds,” her husband said.

“It was all over in one minute,” another British survivor said. “When the boat was on its side, the windows burst open, and we escaped that way.”

Ford said that he had not yet questioned the ferry’s captain because he “is badly injured” with a punctured lung.

Belgium’s secretary of state for the environment, Miet Smet, said she is worried about reports that two of the 36 trucks on the ferry were carrying toxic chemicals. Ford confirmed that two trucks were carrying chemicals and added, “There is nothing unusual in that.”

Belgian officials said that the chemicals were cyanide compounds that must be regarded as at least lightly toxic. But officials at the scene said that there was no indication of leakage and that none of the rescue workers had been exposed to any danger.

Three inquiry commissions, representing Belgium, Britain and the Townsend Thoresen firm, will investigate the accident.

Joseph Allaert, assistant project manager for construction of the port, said it appeared that the ferry’s captain, David Lewry, tried to steer the craft toward shallows when it took on water.

“Any good captain would attempt to do this,” he said, adding that sailing conditions were excellent.

The public prosecutor’s office in Brugge on Saturday night ordered the ferry impounded and said that Lewry was not able to give a “plausible explanation” for the disaster during questioning.