1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144 
Hero gets his due
Page 23
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• The ferry ride back from Zeebrugge on the evening of 6 March 1987 was "a pleasant ride home that turned into hell", said lorry driver hero Richard Murtland when he won his IRU Grand Prix D'Honneur at Istanbul last weekend.
Murtland had just finished dinner in the boat's driver restaurant when the world was thrown upside down. "At first, things just began to slide off the tables and everyone figured that we had hit a big bump in the water," said the 44-yearold truck driver for Christian Salvesen from Grantham, Lincolnshire, "but I've been on a lot of boats in my life and when the ship kept tipping farther over I knew it wasn't going to make it back."
Water exploded in through the side windows of the huge ferry, said Murtland. "There was foam everywhere." The force of the water hurled him clear across the restaurant and pinned him under a steel and glass structure separating the eating area from the rest of the ship. "I'll never forget that scene," said Murtland, turning to Polish driver Waldemar Rogowski who was also honoured at the world congress, and who worked on the capsized ship with MurtLand to free more than 40 trapped passengers.
Murtland climbed up and over the tables towards a porthole, pushed it open and made it out onto what was by then the deck of the capsized ship. He and Rogowsld, along with plenty of others, started dropping ropes down into the gloomy hull and pulling people up on top. Crew members stayed below and tied passengers onto the rope.
"Everyone who helped should be recognised," said Murtland. "A lot of good things were done."
Despite their modesty, both of the lorry drivers stayed beside the porthole working in a frenzy for more than three hours in freezing weather conditions. They were eventually helicoptered ashore and taken to hospital.