Herald of Free Enterprise: Zeebrugge ferry disaster

[cherrakela]

same i had been on this ferry loads of times serving with my husband in germany and the bow doors were always open leaving the breakwater

[pirre87]

My father was a medic on one of the first Belgian navy vessels to respond. They stayed with the ship and he even went in it afterwards to get those who were still down there out. He had nightmares of it for a very long time.

[PIRETMIA]

i was 13 . when i first travelled from harwich to zebrugge ... and even at that age i couldnt believe the bow dooors were open as we left port ... took ages to close . i remember being scared then !!! school boy error

[emmion05]

i was meant to be on that ferry but my nana had a accident day before so had 2 stay an extra week so didnt get on that ferry

[dmatt10635]

Retrosp3k - ones figure of speech does not does not determine their fate. Who then, do you give thanks for sparing your life? And by the way...luck has nothing t o do with it. I don't even know you, yet I praise my God for giving you the life that you now enjoy to this day...when so many others perished. You have been blessed by someone much far greater than you or I.

[topbloke1UK]

I was 17 at the time. Me and my mate were playing Monopoly when it came on the news. We sat in silence because we both had tickets for a trip to Zebrugge that weekend... but decided not to go. Still gives me the creeps... I was looking for the Milow song when I found this. 1987 was a weird year for disasters.

[jamesdean220103]

can some 1 uplload the movie there is 1 it is a tv movie that was on bbc its about a guy on the run fro the police and hides on herald of free enterprise and then as u know sinks but can some put it on here

[Retrosp3k]

Im very lucky to be alive!!! I was supposed to be on that ferry when i was aged 2! When my mum left my dads RAF base in Germany with my gran for a trip home, my mum was very heavily pregnant with my sister. She had to stop so many times to pee that we actually missed the ferry..... even tho i dont belive in him -->THANK GOD R.I.P to everybody who lost there lives and for the famillies who still suffer now! Never forgotten

[WarpLover]

Why thank God if you don't believe in him?

[Retrosp3k]

good point, its a figure of speech!

[WarpLover]

...but a contradiction.

[watchingvideo39]

I lost my dad age 47 sister age 17 step mum age 42 step brother 12. :-(

[20191]

sorry to hear that.. I hope you are doing well .

[river876]

Remember this well. Even though i was a kid at the time. Was very frightening when it happened and very sad.

[runlevel0]

With this name it looks like an omen...

"The Free Enterprise is like a bad designed ship who's destiny is to sink..."

It is an image that comes quite often to my mind in these days of sinking and shipwrecking Free Entreprises.

[ruudje1976]

I was just a kid when this happened. Remember it as if it happened yesterday... The following day they actually tried to pull up the ship again with heavy cranes, to no avail... Such a waste of life and all because they didn't shut the doors properly... It was a sad day. Thank you for posting this. Brings back memories.

[Childrenwithguns5000]

omg my grandma and grandad were going on that ferry but then they changed the ferry!

[yourgate]

very sad.

[yourgate]

very sad.

[nitebot]

Remember this well. Had to go on a North Sea ferry a few weeks later. The BBC News website has archive video new reports.

[core1976scotland]

I remember that night.

[47538]

I served on HMS Hurworth which was dispatched to the scene from Ostend. It was chaos. You can actually see a shot of Hurworth at 0423. Those images still haunt me...

[zaohad1]

A girl I know due to sail on it next day had a really bad dream about it sinking and cancelled it.

People do get that sometimes ,I have no idea why.

[pbraddazz]

Why is former Catchphrase host Roy Walker presenting this Belgian news programme?

[anaco]

It's German TV.

[RuskoLincs]

I remember going on the sister ship - the spirit of free enterprise a month later and i was cacking it.

[loontheklown1]

i went on the sister ship one week later on one of those "go to belgium for a quid" deals,it was pretty strange sailing past the ferry on its side..it was sooo close to the harbour.

[solentferrycam]

Tragic...