European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 22, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 28 the stars and stripes tuesday August 22,1989 perfect night became a night of tragedy editor s note a Bolas Hastings a British journalist was aboard the mme fatness when it was rammed by a Dredger Early sunday my Sank in the thames River by Nicholas Hastings London a it was a perfect night for a party pm the River and an unusually warm night which is probably what saved my  had met with some friends and boarded the marchioness at Charing Cross pier As guests of a Friend who had chartered the boat for his birthday party. I was standing outside on the Bow talking with my friends. We had been sailing for about 20 minutes and we were laughing at various buildings we passed say ing How awful they looked when All of a sudden there was a Small Jolt. Somebody screamed. The first thing that ran through my mind was that we had hit something in the River. But As i turned around i could Sec the enormous looming Hull of the Dredger Hal had hit us. It a fight on top of us. As i did that somebody else yelled we re going  in a matter of seconds we did. I was extremely Lucky As i was standing on the left hand Side of the Bow and the boat rolled to the right. As the boat rolled. I was Able to clamber Over the Nulland eventually found myself standing Bone dry on top of the overturned keel. To we Ohenly person 1 could Sec. Everybody Els had  a agr the boat including the two friends i was standing with i knew Thal my saved my Fife. Tiv 1w4i1& to i  standing  Hose below deck on the danc Ciktor moored barges and the glitter of a Little Patch of mud across the River. Luckily i m a regular swimmer. I jettisoned my glasses decided i did t have time to get rid of my shoes. After what seemed like a very Long time i finally hit what Felt like the Bottom. I stood in knee High Waterford the first time and what had been a strange silence turned into the receding screams for help from other passengers. I started shouting because i realized i could t get the Riverbank Wall. Two police launches passed. I Myrite. Inos Daciow cock m Oance ii oot us m a Ciu aun. I i.  a. Must have been dragged Down with the marchioness. Screamed. One stopped As if it had heard me then sped but. All of a  realized that the boat was Rock off again Japan passed in a tiny Skiff and did t hear1 me. By that stage i was frantic. I d been in the water 10or 15 minutes and was gelling cold. I then saw two Security guards from a building across the River run Ning across the Bridge. They finally he a deny shouts or ing Back up slightly. My first thought was that the others on Board were going to be Able to get out. But 1 realized it meant i had to jump. I did. I bobbed up some Yards away from the boat an discovered myself being swept along in the very Strong tidal current. I realized there was no Landing Point nearby. I knew i could t afford to go with the flow and decided to strike out for what appeared to be two caught sight of me. They lowered a ladder and pulled water. A Dan shout xxv me our of the death toll from Page 1 could be a serious criminal matter a police official said. Other Crew members of the dredge were being questioned by police. The collision happened in the Early hours sunday after the 80-ton Marchio Ness left the Landing at Westminster Bridge. The 1,500-ton Dredger the Bowbells one of the largest boats registered to operate on the thames apparently ran into the Cruiser s Stern swinging it round an then ran Over its Middle Section peeling the upper deck from the Hull and pushing the boat under water in the process. It All happened terribly quickly Sai Dannette Russell a 26-year-old executive at a London modelling Agency. I dived off the Side. The tide look me under Neath the boat and out the other  was no time to get hold of any life  in addition to the police investigation the government announced an immedi ate inquiry by the department of trans port s Marine Accident investigation Branch. Some politicians and Marine expert expressed concern that increased tourist and pleasure Craft on the thames in re cent years May have created a traffic problem for which existing rules of navigation Are insufficient. The thames is one of Britain s major tourist attractions with hundreds of thousands of visitors taking sightseeing boat rides each year. The number of pleasure Craft travelling the thames has doubled in the last five years a spokesman for the port of Lon Don authority estimated adding that accidents were nonetheless rare and that the thames is one of safest major River thoroughfares in the world. Prime minister Margaret Thatcher who described the mishap As a tragedy of the first order flew Back from a vacation in Austria to visit the scene Monitor the investigation and talk to survivors. The Accident occurred just before 2a.m. Sunday morning. Survivors of the crash said that the marchioness had been hit from behind by the Barge turned sideways and then nearly sheared in half by the much larger vessel. Suddenly it rammed us again our boat was run Over and we were under Neath the water recalled Rod Lay 26, who managed to swim to the surface where he was rescued and taken to a nearby Hospital. The Barge appears to have strayed into a Lane closer to the Shore reserved for smaller boats. According to a spokesman for the port of London authority the Bowbells should have remained in the Middle Channel known to seamen As the  Given the difference in size of the two vessels Ken Dwan whose company owns the marchioness said it would have been like a tank running Over a  the marchioness Sank in roughly 25 feet of water near Southwark Bridge in Central London. There was a discotheque on Board with Many of the Young people dancing or enjoying the Clear Cool summer night. Those dancing in the enclosed dec would have been most Likely to have been trapped and unable to escape Given How rapidly the Craft Sank. The thames is a fast flowing River bythe time it reaches London which is also buffeted by Strong tidal currents. For example the first body recovered an unidentified Young woman was found eight Miles upstream from the scene of the Accident carried by the rising tide. The treacherous conditions made the search for bodies difficult and danger Ous. Divers and Salvage experts also battled the currents to raise the marchioness late on sunday. Most of the survivors were taken to three London hospitals examined and released. Most had minor injuries and the majority were quite emotionally shocked said or. Paul Davics a surgeon at  s Hospital. One woman suffered a broken leg. Because of the crowding at the Hospi tals a few of the survivors were Given shelter and blankets at a nearby hotel. 9,896 arrested in colombian drug crackdown Bogota Colombia a police and soldiers rounded up nearly 10,000 suspects in an unprecedented nationwide crackdown on cocaine traffickers blamed for the assassination of leading presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan officials said sunday. Related Story. Page 4. Tens of thousands of people Many openly weeping and calling out for Justice packed downtown Street for Galan s funeral sunday. President Virgilio Barco characterized him As a Martyr in an intensifying War on the fearsome drug underworld. According to a defense ministry communique is sued sunday night police and military authorities have rounded up 9,896 suspects raided 298 Homes of suspected drug dealers and seized 330 firearms and about four tons of cocaine since Barco announced emergency crackdown measures Friday. The statement said 1,023 cars and trucks also were confiscated in the sweep which included raids at the posh and Well guarded estates and other properties of several suspected cocaine chieftains including Pablo Escobar Gaviria Rodriguez Gacha and Jorge Ochoa. Although raids involved he Escobar Gaviria estate there was no indication that he or other leaders of the Medellin cocaine Cartel were actually arrested. Assassins believed hired by the drug Cartel gunned Down Galan a 46-year-old Liberal party senator and presidential candidate during a Friday night political rally in the town of Doacha 20 Miles South of Bogota. The death capped a 48-hour wave of assassinations that also included a provincial commander of the National police Force and a Bogota magistrate. All of the victims were Active in combating drugs. About 50,000 colombians lined downtown Street for Galan s funeral procession waving White handkerchiefs and singing the National Anthem As the Flag draped coffin was carried from the capital building to the National  Galan s funeral service Barco declared Galan s and his party s fight against the criminal narcotics trafficking organization was frontal and without concessions. The threats did not take him from his  every colombian and foreigner who takes drugs mus Timber they Are helping those who assassinated Galan. J hundreds of others in this Battle he said. The president described his country As the biggest victim of an International organization dedicated to the crime of drug trafficking the most Gigantic an powerful such organization that has Ever  his emergency measures included extradition of proven drug traffickers to the United states. Barco in his speech at the funeral service called for International Solidarity in fighting the drug problem. At the cemetery As the coffin was lowered thou Sands of colombians chanted Galan is still Here Galan considered the leading Liberal party Candi Date for the May 1990 presidential elections had sur Vived previous attempts on his life. According to press reports. Escobar Gaviria the head of the Medellin drug Cartel that reportedly  most of the United states and Europe with co Caine travelled to Panama last week after ordering ascribes of killings including that of Galan. France from Page 1 French intentions a statement released in Beirut said. French prime minister Michel Ricard hinted last week that the warships would use Force if they were shelled. He said France could not allow bombardments to continue in Beirut if it was to carry outfits humanitarian Mission and evacuate French nationals. Aoun who commands the Christian forces said in an interview with a French newspaper that he would Welcome French military intervention. We have lost a Good part of our human resources in fighting the syrians and French intervention would help boost our resistance he was quoted As saying. Lebanese christians have traditionally looked to France which was the Man Date Power in Lebanon until the country gained Independence 46 years ago a their protector. The French left behind a system that gave the bigger share of Power to the Maronitis an Eastern Kite Catholic group that follows the Vatican. Meanwhile the pro iranian party of god kept Israel guessing about the Fate of two captured israeli soldiers Israel wants exchanged for shiite prisoners in israeli jails. The group said in a statement that i would not divulge information about the two soldiers Yusuf Fink and Rah Amimel Sheik who were captured in february 1986. The party of god has refused to negotiate on a prisoner Swap. Israel offered to Exchange Obeid and 150 shiite prisoner for the two soldiers an israeli air navigator and the Western hostages. In its statement the party of god accused Israel of trying to extort information about the soldiers by releasing information purported to come from Obeid and demanded that the israelis free him  Friday an israeli defense ministry spokesman said Obeid had told interrogators that the two israeli soldiers were dead. But the spokesman Eitan Haber said the Sheik s information was hear say and we do not believe  in the lebanese civil War Beirut and neighbouring areas witnessed relative Calm after sporadic artillery and rocket shelling overnight. For the first time in several weeks no casualties were reported. -