— Survivors of the Zim Lines’ bulk carrier Mezada which sank in the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda March 8 told a board of inquiry in Haifa yesterday that they had urged Capt. Gera Levin, the ship’s master, to summon help much earlier than he had done, but that he refused. Levin was one of the 24 officers and seamen who died in Israel’s worst maritime disaster.
The survivors told the board of inquiry, which was appointed earlier this month by Transport Minister Haim Landau, that they had warned Levin that the 19,000-ton vessel was taking on water the day before she sank, that they suspected there was something wrong with the rudder and that the ship was leaking oil. But Levin claimed, they said, that the damage did not warrant calling for assistance, which would have cost about $1 million.
The Mezada, enroute from Ashdod to Baltimore, sank in severe gale. Zim Line officials told an earlier meeting of the board of inquiry that events moved fast and the company management in Haifa was not aware of how serious conditions were. The officials also said that Levin sounded less anxious about the threat to his ship in his messages to Haifa than in his wireless calls to Bermuda.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
