Malu Sara might have 'floated away'

Monday, 03 September 2007 06:45

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Donald David Radke, whose company supplied the Department of Immigration with six unseaworthy boats including the Malu Sara which disappeared with the loss of all five on board almost two years ago, said he doubts the boat sank and may have floated away.

Giving evidence last week at a coronial inquest on Thursday Island, Mr Radke, a director of boat builder Subsee, said nobody could say for certain what happened to the Malu Sara when it vanished on October 15, 2005.

“Do you know what happened (to the Malu Sara)?” Mr Radke asked the court. “I believe it could have floated away.”

In an extraordinary week of evidence, Mr Radke admitted to supplying six boats in August, 2005, to DIMIA that did not meet safety standards and were riddled with problems including leaks and design faults.

Just two and a half months after the boats were commissioned at a ceremony on Thursday Island, the Malu Sara vanished after being lost in fog while travelling between Saibai and Badu islands.

Lost were Immigration officers Captain Wildred Baira, 35, and Ted Harry, 50, along with Valerie Saub, Flora Enosa and her daughter Ethena.

The court heard Mr Radke failed to follow guidelines requiring the hulls of the boats to be fitted with foam. Nor had the boats not been swamp or stability tested.

“We discussed (the fitting of foam) with DIMIA and pointed out the pros and the cons … If you split the hull you would have to remove the foam before carrying out repairs,” Mr Radke said. “It would cost a little more to fit the foam; I would say about $1000 per vessel. I accept they didn’t comply with the standard.”

Tests on other boats in the fleet showed they took on large amounts of water when put into reverse, rolled when swamped and would sink soon after rolling.

“It suggests there was no quality assurances exerted over the manufacture of these vessels,” counsel assisting Mark Gynther told the court.

Mr Radke also admitted to building each of the six vessels almost a half-metre longer than specified, and supplying compliance certificates with false information.

Earlier, the court heard the Malu Sara may have been saved had authorities realised the satellite phone on board could have been used to pinpoint its location to with-in 150 metres.

David Sakker, executive director of satellite phone operator Global Star, said the phone handset aboard the Malu Sara could be used to give a location by pushing four buttons.

Mr Sakker said the function had been used to locate a group of lost bush walkers in Victoria several years ago.

Mr Sakker said the satellite phone stopped communicating with the network sometime after 4.03, making it likely the Malu Sara sank in total darkness.

More than nine hours later, two SES volunteers and a pilot told the court they saw a man in the water who may have been waving for help.

“At first I saw a yellow object in the water and then I saw a guy in the water sitting up in a (lifejacket) waving his arms. The arms were too big to be a female,” said SES volunteer Deborah Marshall.

Pilot Nathan Coote told the court he had also spotted a brown-skinned person in the water wearing a yellow life vest while flying a fixed-wing search aircraft.

Although Mr Coote said he could not say for certain whether what he saw was a person was waving or a body “flailing” in the sea.

By the time a helicopter arrived in the area, no trace of the man was found.

The inquest before Coroner Michael Barnes is continuing this week when former Immigration Department  Regional Manager Garry Chaston will give evidence.