Rio Tragedy Makes Him Man With Mission

Like most people, Peter Tripp goes to Rio de Janeiro strictly for fun.

The sandy beaches, fast cars and fast women make Rio “the best place to celebrate New Year’s in the entire world,” said Tripp, a Sherman Oaks businessman.

But the next time he visits Rio in two or three weeks, it will not be a pleasure trip. It will be a mission of conscience.

Brazilian authorities said Tripp, 40, is a key witness in an investigation of alleged bribery that allowed a crowded chartered yacht to sail in inclement weather on New Year’s Eve. The yacht sank 45 minutes into the voyage, and 56 people drowned.

Tripp, the only American aboard the doomed vessel, has told Brazilian attorneys that he and his Brazilian girlfriend saw the booking agent give money to a police officer, who allowed the yacht to proceed on its journey from the beach at Botafogo to Copacabana Beach, despite heavy winds and dangerous surf.

The booking agent and two of the boat’s owners were arrested Sunday, but many Brazilian victims refused to testify in the civil and military investigations, fearing retaliation by the Marine Police and a group of powerful businessmen who controlled the yacht, according to Brazilian press accounts.

Tripp, however, is undaunted.

“After you spend 45 minutes in turbulent seas in the pitch dark, fighting for your life and hearing screams for help all around you, standing up to say what you saw is easy,” said Tripp, who has run his own computer supplies company for seven years.

The suspects were released two days later because of insufficient evidence. The three men, as well as the police officer, have denied that any bribe occurred and blamed the disaster on hysterical passengers.

The tragedy occurred 15 minutes before midnight.

Tripp, who has spent the last six New Year’s in Rio, said he had paid $300 fare for him and his girlfriend to board the Bateau Mouche IV for its excursion to Copacabana.

“Normally I party on shore, but the beach always gets so crowded, and I thought it would be fun to watch the fireworks from the ocean,” Tripp said.

The crowded, double-decked yacht left the Sol e Mar Pier a little after 9 p.m., Tripp said, and had only sailed a few miles, when a Marine Police patrol ship ordered it to return.

“They saw the boat rocking real heavily and noticed there were too many people on board,” Tripp said. “I know there were more than 200 people on that boat, and I’m being modest. It was huge, and it was so crowded. You could hardly move.”

When the Bateau Mouche returned to port, the senior officer of the police vessel, Sgt. Antonio Braga de Vasconcelos, boarded and did a cursory count of the passengers, said Tripp, who identified the seaman from a series of photographs supplied by Brazilian correspondents in the United States.

‘You Could Tell’

Tripp also identified Francisco Garcia Riveiro, who leased the yacht for $10,000 and was dining at a seaside restaurant when he saw that the yacht had returned. Tripp said he saw Riveiro come out of the restaurant and saw him give money to Vasconcelos.

“It was 25 yards away, and it was dark, but you could tell what was going on and that money was changing hands,” Tripp said.

He said the alleged bribe did not concern him because, “That’s how it is in Brazil.”

“Everybody pays the police. Besides, when you pay $300 for a cruise like that, you assume everything is taken care of,” he said.

The boat set out again at 11:15 p.m.

Remembering the tragedy, Tripp said, “The waves were rough, and the boat started leaning heavily to the right. The captain told all the passengers to move to the left side of the boat. I thought it would balance.”

But it did not.

‘Everyone Was Screaming’

“All the tables started sliding toward me,” Tripp said. “I finally dove into the water, and then I saw it turn over. Everyone was screaming and crying, and within five minutes, the boat was completely under the water. A lot of women were in evening gowns, and others couldn’t even swim.”

Tripp, who exercises for two hours each day, said he and his companion swam about 45 minutes before they were picked up by a passing fishing boat.

He also assisted a man, who could not swim.

“I found a table top floating in the water, and he hung on to it,” Tripp said. “His wife and son were drowned.”

Officials of the Brazilian Marine Police and the organizers of the trip testified that the tragedy was caused by passenger panic.

In a news article immediately after the accident, an attorney for the owners of the boat said, “The boat had been officially inspected before the trip and was in perfect order.”

The owners, who are known throughout Brazil as members of a powerful syndicate that controls five major hotels and several nightclubs in Rio, also said the number of passengers on the yacht did not exceed its authorized 150 capacity.

“They’re lying, and I’m pissed off,” Tripp said. “There were 10 tables on top of the deck, with four people at each table, plus the band and the crew made it about 80 people on the top deck alone. The bottom deck was even bigger, and it was packed.”

Brazilian Victims

Brazilian victims have been less forthcoming.

However, Tripp’s Brazilian companion, Katia Rangel Elizando, has agreed to testify. Elizando works for a travel agency in New York and was scheduled to return to Brazil today to testify.

Reached by telephone in her New York office, Elizando, 24, said in Portuguese, “At first, I didn’t want to get involved. I was afraid, and I still am because my testimony and Peter’s could destroy many powerful people. We are the only ones who have admitted to seeing an obvious exchange of bribe money at the dock.”

She added, “Brazil is not a serious country, and the government and the police never seem to do anything about these kinds of happenings.

“I’ve always been outraged with the corruption and greed and lack of concern that exists among the authorities, so here was my chance to reverse that. It’s like an unpaid debt, you keep postponing, but eventually you must settle with your conscience.”

Raised Two Weeks Ago

The sunken vessel was raised two weeks ago and hauled to a naval yard, where it is being inspected for leaks and substandard design features.

Because two Italians died in the tragedy, the Italian government has demanded a full investigation into the sinking. Norwegian technical experts are participating in the investigation.

There were also French, West German, Portuguese and Danish passengers aboard. However, most were Brazilians.

Although the long-haired, flashily dressed Tripp said he will continue to spend his New Year’s holidays in Rio, he will never go out to sea.

“Hell no,” he said. “Do I look stupid?”