Irish flotilla ship sabotaged in port

The Irish-owned ship, the MV Saoirse, due to sail this week with the Freedom Flotilla 2 to Gaza, has been sabotaged while at berth the Turkish coastal town of Göcek, according to the Irish Ship to Gaza Campaign. The extent of the damage to the ship is such that it will not now participate in the flotilla.

Concerns for the boat first emerged on Monday evening following a short trip near the Göcekmarina and an inspection was carried out by divers and by skipper Shane Dillon on Tuesday morning. Evidence was found that the shaft of the starboard propeller has been interfered with and the boat was taken out of the water for a further visual inspection. On Wednesday, the boat was put on land at a local shipyard and the extent of the sabotage became apparent.

The group says that the propeller shaft had been weakened by saboteurs who cut, gouged or filed a piece off the shaft, weakening its integrity and causing it to bend badly when put in use. They say the damage was very similar to that caused to the Juliano, another flotilla ship, in Greece. 

Commenting on the attack from Göcek in Turkey, Dr Fintan Lane, national coordinator of Irish Ship to Gaza, who own the vessel, said: "This is an appalling attack and should be condemned by all right-thinking people. It is an act of violence against Irish citizens and could have caused death and injury. If we had not spotted the damage as a result of a short trip in the bay, we would have gone to sea with a dangerously damaged propeller shaft and the boat would have sunk if the hull had been breached. Imagine the scene if this had happened at nighttime."

"Israel is the only party likely to have carried out this reckless action and it is important that the Irish government and the executive in Northern Ireland insist that those who ordered this act of international terrorism be brought to justice. This was carried out in a Turkish town and shows no respect for Turkish sovereignty and international law."

He continued: "One of the most shocking aspects is the delayed nature of the sabotage. It wasn't designed to stop the ship from leaving its berth; instead, it was intended that the fatal damage to the ship would occur while she was at sea and this could have resulted in the deaths of several of those on board. This was a potentially murderous act."

Dr Lane, who was on board Challenger 1 in last year's flotilla, said: "The Freedom Flotilla is a non-violent act of practical and humanitarian solidarity with the people of Gaza, yet Israel continues to use threats and violence to delay its sailing. They attacked us in international waters last year; now they are attacking us in Turkish and Greek ports. There is no line that Israel won't cross."

"We will not be intimidated by attacks like this - it simply highlights the aggression that the Palestinian people of Gaza have to put up with on a daily basis. It strengthens our determination to continue until this illegal and immoral blockade is lifted."

Calling on the government and northern executive to demand safe passage for Freedom Flotilla 2, Dr Lane said: "The Irish government needs to publicly condemn this dangerous act of sabotage but it also should insist on the flotilla being allowed to make it to Gaza unhindered. Israel has no right to interdict the flotilla and even less right to carry out attacks against vessels in Greek and Turkish ports."
"It is important that everybody make their voices heard in solidarity with the people of Gaza and in support of the flotilla. The Israeli embassy should become a focal point for street demonstrations. These saboteurs came very close to killing Irish citizens."

Also speaking from Göcek, the skipper of the MV Saoirse, Shane Dillon, said: "The damage sighted and inspected on the starboard propeller shaft on the MV Saoirse had the potential to cause loss of life to a large number of those aboard. The nature of the attack and malicious damage was such that under normal circumstances the vessel would most likely have sunk at sea. If the ship was operating at high engine revs, the damage done by the saboteurs would have caused the shaft to shear and the most likely outcome would be the rupturing of the hull and the vessel foundering. If, as was intended, the vessel had proceeded to Gaza at reduced revs, the stern tube would have been forced off line and a large and rapid ingress of water would have resulted, sinking the vessel."

Mr Dillon continued: "The shaft was filmed and photographed when the vessel was lifted from the water on Wednesday afternoon in a shipyard in the Turkish coastal village of Göcek. A local marine engineer inspected the shaft and his opinion was that the interference was the work of professional saboteurs intent on disabling the Saoirse. However, the most shocking aspect of the attack was that its intention was to cause failure of the shaft when the vessel was offshore and this shows a total disregard for human life."
He ended: "It is also worth noting that the damage inflicted on the Saoirse was identical to that that caused to the Greek/Swedish ship, the Juliano, which was sabotaged in the Greek port of Piraeus a few days ago."

Pat Fitzgerald, a Sinn Fein member of Waterford County Council and chief engineer on the Saoirse, commented: "We were very lucky to discover this act of sabotage when we did. We felt vibrations from the shaft as we were returning to the berth on Monday evening following a short trip in the bay for refuelling purposes. Close inspection by divers on Tuesday and then on land on Wednesday revealed a large man-made gouge on one side of the propeller shaft. The integrity of the shaft had been compromised and a very serious bend had developed. This could have caused fatalities had we set to sea and almost certainly would have sunk the boat when the engine revs were increased. It was an act of sheer lunacy and endangered the lives of all on board."

The sabotage has been reported to the harbour master in Göcek and Irish Ship to Gaza are asking for a full investigation by the Turkish police.

The repairs will take some time, meaning that the Saoirse cannot participate in Freedom Flotilla 2.

Six of the 20 crew and passengers aboard the Saoirse will transfer to another ship in the flotilla, the Italian-Dutch vessel the Stefano Chiarini. The six Irish who will join that ship are Fintan Lane, national coordinator of Irish Ship to Gaza and a member of the Free Gaza Movement; Trevor Hogan, former Ireland and Leinster rugby player; Paul Murphy, Socialist Party MEP for Dublin; Zoe Lawlor of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign; Hussein Hamed, a Libyan-born Irish citizen; and Gerry MacLochlainn, a Sinn Fein member of Derry City Council.

Below, ships engineer Pat Fitzgerald inspects the damage to the ship.

Fintan Lane talks about the sabotage:

@GAZAFFLOTILLA have posted images which they say shows the damage inflicted on the Nordic flotilla ship Juliano in the Greek port of Piraeus on Monday is identical to that caused to the MV Saoirse in Turkey yesterday. See below.

MV Saoirse

Juliano

{jathumbnailoff}