by Chris Williams - Sept. 18, 2012 10:07 PM
12 News | azcentral.com
Johnny Rosen looked up at the burning cargo containers teetering from the 1,000-foot freighter. Flaming debris rained into the Atlantic Ocean. Smoke poured into the sky.
From a seat in a lifeboat, Rosen wondered if this adventure would be his last.
Instead, home in Phoenix months later, he can pull out the photos he took from his trans-Atlantic trip and tell the tale.
Rosen, born in South Africa, is a 66-year-old with stories to tell. He said he's been a journalist, a soldier and a car salesman. Today, he said, he runs a business reselling parts for classic Chryslers out of his house off Cave Creek Road.
But this tale starts with a ticket for passage on a highly unusual cruise. Rosen said he had business in Sweden -- he's vague about the details -- and going by plane would have been too easy.
Instead, he booked a spot aboard a cargo ship, which would leave from Charleston, S.C., bound for Antwerp, Belgium.
Travel by cargo ship is a real, if unusual, way to tour the globe. Passengers can book a limited number of berths on many ships. They eat with the ships' officers or crew, and the rest of the time, they simply keep themselves occupied as they cross the open ocean.
An e-mail to the shipping company was not returned, and much of Rosen's experience can't be corroborated. But he has the ticket and the incredible photographs from on board.
Rosen's ship was the MSC Flaminia, owned by a German shipping firm. The massive ship was hauling an extensive variety of chemicals, according to later European-media reports.
The 11-day voyage began typically enough. He even snapped pictures of the sunset at sea. But on July 14, he awoke to a strange smell, he said, then saw smoke from his porthole.
The crew battled the flare-up for more than an hour, Rosen said, before a call to man the lifeboats.
The captain ordered the orange vessel toward the flames, Rosen said, rescuing two men trapped fighting the fire.
Rosen described the ordeal: "As the lifeboat was maneuvering up to the Flaminia, there were several burning containers, damaged containers, teetering on the edge of the ship. They had been blown out of the hold. They hadn't gone into the water. And as I looked up, they were right over me and at any second any one of those might have bust loose.
"It would have been curtains for everybody in that lifeboat. We would have been squashed like a bug."
Instead, the boat made the rescue, steering away from the smoking ship.
Several crew members were hurt in the fire. One died, and another is still missing.
A Russian cargo ship rushed to help the survivors, who were taken on to Germany.
The Flaminia, unmanned, continued to drift as European countries struggled with how to handle the hazardous cargo, according to the BBC. Finally, early this month, it was inspected and towed into a German port for salvage. Investigators are still looking into the cause of the explosion.
Rosen, meanwhile, completed his European trip and booked another passage home. "They call me 'Close Call Johnny," Rosen said, recounting the voyage at his Phoenix home.
19 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/09/18/20120918phoenix-survivor-ship-fire.html
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