Shipwreck Don Ricardo
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The propeller of the ship. -
The inverted stern of DON RICARDO. -
The ship is located inverted in the sea bottom and a big part of its load is spread around the wreck. -
A lifejacket with the name of the ship on it is still in the wreck. -
The inverted bridge of DON RICARDO at the stern. -
The load of the ship consisted of steel sheets that are obvious in the sea bottom until today. -
DON RICARDO with the flag of Antigua & Barbuda waving on its stern (© Mike Griffiths) -
DON RICARDO. (© Charlie Hill) -
MUHIEDDINE VII (ex HUA YUE, ex MANDARIN SUN, ex CAP SUNION, ex JUPITER II, ex JUPITER (© Ole Ryolf) -
Video from the shipwreck Don Ricardo.
A new discovery is added in the list of the wrecks that the diving team of Antonis Grafas visited and investigated.
This is the wreck of the cargo ship DON RICARDO with the discrete code 6715293 of the International Maritime Organization.
DON RICARDO sank in November 12th 1997 having five losses at the seaway of Kea after crashing into the Syrian cargo ship
MUHIEDDINE VII. It was constructed in 1967 with construction number 619 by J.J Sietas Schiffswerft GmbH at Neuenfelde in Hamburg, Germany
for the company P/R Don Ricardo located in Hamburg as well.
The characteristics of the ship are the below:
Type of ship: Cargo Sietas Type 33e
Length: 66m
Width: 10,5m
Draught: 3,97m
Capacity: 1155 tones
Propulsion: 1 4-year diesel engine
Power: 900 PS (662 kW)
Propeller: 1
Indicative speed: 11 knots
Call Sign: V2DF
IMO: 6715293
First flag: Germany
Current flag while its sinking: Antigua & Barbuda
During its last trip, DON RICARDO was loaded with steel sheets and had departed with a 5-member crew (one Russian and four Lithuanians) from
Burgas, Bulgary heading to Casablanca, Morocco. Departed on 11/11/1997 from Instanbul and while it was at the
seaway of Kea, during the night of 12/11/1997, where there was dense fog, it crashed into the Syrian cargo ship MUHIEDDINE VII (length: 125m and weight: 5198 tones)
and rammed by it at 23.10pm. The result was to be inverted and sank with the whole crew.
The victims of DON RICARDO were: Sergey Balashof (Russia), Nikolai Gomenisk, Georij Ivancenko, Stanislav Kondrasov and Vladimir Krucek (Lithuania).
The nexr days, the Greek air life-rescue means detected two empty boats and a lifejacket of DON RICARDO. No member of the 23-member crew of
MUHIEDDINE VII was injured. On 14/11/1997 and while MUHIEDDINE VII was kept at the port of Lavrio, prosecutions were realized against
the captain of the ship, Amin Cangonja, citizen from Albania, and Saad Markabi, citizen of Syria, under the charge of homicide and causing a wreck.
DON RICARDO wreck is located in a maximum depth of 119m and minimum 110m. The ship is inverted in the sea bottom, having its
keel at an angle of almost 95 degree towards the surface, while a big part of the load is spread around the wreck.
The bow-stern axis has an east direction and the signs of the hard crash that resulted in its sinking are still obvious on the hull
of the ship.
DG