August 15, 2019 – With one death and two children still in intensive care from monoxide poisoning on the charter boat MY Atlantia, TripAdvisor speaks about noxious cabin fumes on the same boat in 2018.
A very emotional day for the three Italian adult survivors of the tragic events on the charter boat MY Atlantia today, as they returned to the boat on Hvar to pick up their belongings after they were helicoptered to Split with what investigators have concluded was carbon monoxide poisoning from a leak on the boat into the cabins. There are photos in the Croatian media, but I personally feel they are a little intrusive, so no link from me.
The 23-year-old owner and 27-year-old captain have been arrested. And while there are many questions being asked about how something like this could have happened (the faulty unit was apparently installed on August 8), this is not the first time that there have been complaints about noxious fumes in the cabins of MY Atlantia. A TripAdvisor post of 2018 had a very negative experience:
So, let’s talk about the boat. From what we found out the ownership changed a couple of years ago and as a boat owner the vessel has been totally neglected on the maintenance side. The grey water tanks backed up two times and filled the cabins with noxious fumes almost makes you throw up. The grey water tank needs to be flushed or changed as it is totally full of sludge. The toilet flushing was not working in two of the cabins; the impellers need to be changed.
It is VERY important to note that Atlantia was under different ownership last summer, and the current owner commented as such in the comments below this post, promising the following:
MY ATLANTIA has a new owner since 2019 and we’re very sorry to that you have had such experience with Atlantia.
We have taken the following steps to provide our guests an amazing holidays;
MY ATLANTIA for the 2019 season has a new crew , very good refreshments on interior and exterior was made furthermore all technical details was improve.
Interestingly, the charter company refunded the clients $700 after they complained about their experience.
While the focus is quite rightly on the current situation and how it could have happened, perhaps this tragedy will be the catalyst for more attention to be paid to ensuring something like this can’t happen again. The fact that the same boat was giving noxious fumes to other sailors last year when the boat had different owners hardly fills one with confidence.
Sailing in Croatia has been booming in recent years, as more people discover the beauty of summer on the Adriatic. The explosion of new businesses and more boats and crew has been rapid, perhaps without all the appropriate checks and balances along the way.
A little like Croatia’s tourism strategy in general, more attention to the strategy and details of the sailing industry would do wonders for reassuring safety and providing a better sailing experience.
