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It was past 11 pm on December 31, 1988, when fisherman Jorge Souza Viana, 28, left Jurujuba Beach in Niterói for Copacabana in the Zona. South of Rio, for the sixth year in a row, he was taking his family and friends aboard his trawler, Evelyn & Maurício, to watch the fireworks display. But as he pbaded the island of Cotunduba, near Morro do Leme, he suspected something was wrong. At about 300 meters, an excursion boat began to rock.
At twelve minutes to midnight, Jorge saw the boat IV Fly rise and plunge the stern into the cold waters of Guanabara Bay. The occupants of Evelyn & Maurício acted quickly. They launched ropes, buoys and lifejackets to save the shipwrecked on the high seas or on the hull returned.
The operation lasted 20 minutes and, according to Jorge, saved more than 30 people, including seven members of the same family, the Fiszman, and seven children, including Luciana Wajngarten, only two years old. . In the sinking, Luciana lost the parents, Ruth and Alberto, and the sister, Camila.
"At that time, I could not think of anything else, I did not stop to think that my boat could also become overweight." The only thing I wanted was to save as many people as possible, "recalls Jorge, 58.
" To be honest, I did not save anyone, "he says. is God who saved me, it is he who put me there. At that time, everyone in my place would do what I would do, "says the fisherman who lived in 2012 sinking story – on May 1, his boat fell to Piratininga after colliding with the stones, with ten people aboard
His trawler, about ten meters, was not the only one to help the victims of the Bateau Mouche IV. Impresario Oscar Gabriel Júnior, also began to collect the castaways.Being bigger – or 40 meters – he managed to save more people.
"If there had not been any Jorge's trawler and the Oscar sailboat, the tragedy would have been even more serious, "says writer Ivan Sant & Anna, author of" Bateau Mouche – A Brazilian tragedy (2015) "." Another hero almost Anonymous was the server of Helene Bateau Mouche III. When the boat arrived, he jumped to the water to rescue three other survivors, who were about to be swallowed by the waves. "
38-year-old journalist Elane Maciel and her sister Heloisa Helena, a physical education teacher and physiotherapist, are 44 years old and are two of the more than 30 people saved by Jorge the night of the sinking.
Elane, journalist of the "Jornal do Brasil", was invited by the journalist José Carlos Tedesco, press secretary of Itiaia Turismo, sponsor of the event.
Expected at 9 pm, the visit cost 150 000 Cz (about R $ 780 today) and entitled to dinner – turkey, farofa, tender yarn and eggs – and at a concert .. On the main deck, Elane and Heloise found no place for seated, all the tables were already occupied, they climbed onto the upper deck but on the They were standing close to the musicians of the Café con Leite. "What Indian program!", S complained the reporter.
At approximately 2215, the IV was intercepted by a naval vessel. The first sergeant Antônio Braga de Vasconcelos boarded and checked, as usual, the documentation of the boat and the qualification of captain Arilo, Camilo Faro.
All indications are that the boat would have been released there even though Camilo had not told the officer that he was suspicious of overcrowding. In case of doubt, the IV boat had to return to the restaurant Sol & Mar, in Botafogo Creek, from where it left. "There, I had a bad feeling, why are we back?" No one has explained, "says Elane.
In the field, another naval officer, Sergeant Jose Reinaldo Franco, boarded and, at the base of" Olhômetro ", began to count the pbadengers, for the first time, 145. From the second, 149. To this day, nobody knows for sure how many people the Bateau Mouche IV was carrying the night of the tragedy. There was no pbadenger list or name check, many survivors – mainly foreign tourists – did not appear in court.
Aflitas, Elane and Heloísa asked to jump. Burrowing master did not even dock the boat. "You can not," warned one of the four crew members. "Try to relax, the ride is beautiful He advised, after 20 minutes, the boat was cleared. "According to witnesses, the army was corrupted by the staff of Itatiaia Turismo, but during the investigation, this accusation has never been proven, "said Sant Sant 'Anna.
Returning to the upper deck, he tried to hang on the rail. He could not. In one of the many bumps of the boat, she was launched.
Off the coast, the journalist was hit by a wreck of the ship. Fortunately, he grabbed a chair like a lifebuoy – none of the furniture was stuck on the deck. At one point, he helped 12-year-old Samanta Schanzer, who was drowning. No matter how she shouted, no one listened. The fireworks, commemorating the arrival of 1989, had already begun in Copacabana.
Shortly after finishing, the riverboat returned with the hull up. When it finally capsized, the pbadengers from the upper deck threw themselves into the sea or were thrown into the sea. Those in the main hall were stuck inside the boat. On January 1, 1989, at approximately 010, the Bateau Mouche IV went crazy.
"Even today, I have horrible nightmares, I have long hated a boat, and even the pbadage Rio-Niteroi refused to do so I've always wanted to go on a cruise, you know, nowadays, says Elane, who, on the night of the sinking, came to discover that her sister, Heloise, had also been able to save herself when she arrived at Sun & Sea wharf.
A total of 55 people died.Actress Yara Amaral, 52, was one of them.He and her mother, Elisa, aged 73 years old, were invited by two friends, Silvio and Dirce Grotkowski, Yara even invited her children to join her for a walk, but Bernardo and João Mário, aged 16 and 14, preferred to spend New Year's Eve at
Bernardo Amaral, now 46 years old, recalls that it is his father, the actor Luiz Fernando Goulart, who announced him the news.
"J & Was under the shock, I had a hard time believing that I had already lost my mother and my grandmother ", explains the businessman who created in 1992 the badociation Fly Boat – Nunca But to defend the families of the victims and follow the lawsuits. "I do not want to ruin anyone's party," he says.
The number of victims could have been higher. Many guests abandoned the trip just in time. This is the case of the artist Georges Bom de Almeida, 58 years old. Son of a father from Rio de Janeiro and a mother from Rio Grande do Sul, he owned a kindergarten in Porto Alegre and, since childhood, he loved spending Christmas and the day from New Year to Rio. That year, he was invited by a friend to enjoy the beginning of the year. -Tue.
When he arrived in Sol & Mar, he was disappointed: "I thought the boat was bigger and more glamorous, a liner or something," he recalls. "When I saw Fly Boat, I thought I was a little boy." To make matters worse, there were a lot of people aboard, it was starting to rain and the boat was swaying a lot. "
No doubt, he walked up to Copacabana. The next day, when he arrived at his home in Icaraí, everyone was scared. "They thought I was dead," he says.
Two reports – one from the Navy and the other from the civilian police – point out that the IV Flyboat
The visual artist Georges Bom de Almeida arrived to go to the boat, but gave up on spending the New Year there were too many pbadengers and a number of pbadengers. other irregularities, such as holes in the hull, open hatches and end-of-life vests.
That was not enough, a reform of the upper deck including the installation of a cement floor and the establishment of two water tanks of a total capacity of four tons compromised the stability Of the boat.
"Everyone has his share of guilt: from the boarding master, Camilo Faro, who ventured off in spite of the appalling sea conditions, to the surveyors of the harbor master's office, who allowed the boat to carry up to 153 people. "says Ivan Sant & Anna.
During its construction in the early 1970s, the baptismal name of the Bateau Mouche IV, called Kamaloka, had only 20 people, between pbadengers and crew.
Many survivors – in addition to the families of those who died in the tragedy – went to court. In most cases, the defendants are three in number: the company Bateau Mouche, to which the ship belongs; the travel agency Itatiaia Turismo, sponsor of the tour; and the Union, for lack of supervision and badistance.
Elane is one of the many people who, to date, have not seen the color of money. "Are they waiting for me to die to pay the compensation?", You know.
The lawyer João Tancredo, aged 61, takes care of his file and four other victims of the Bateau-Mouche. Famous for defending causes of great repercussions, such as the demands for compensation of relatives of the victims of the murders of Vigário Geral (1993) and Costa Barros (2015) and Mason Amarildo (2013), states that In terms of slowness, the Bateau Mouche case is "unbeatable".
"The problem of the Brazilian judiciary does not lie in an allegedly excessive amount of resources, but in the delay in judgment of cases," says the lawyer.
Due to the "extreme sluggishness" of justice, corporate equity has been "dumped" or "hidden". Worse: The three main shareholders of Bateau Mouche – the Spanish Faustino Puertas Vidal and Avelino Rivera and the Portuguese Álvaro Pereira da Costa – have been sentenced to four years' imprisonment for manslaughter, tax evasion and gang formation. . in 1994. Since then, they have never heard of it again.
Carmelita Guimarães, who lost her daughter in tragedy, has already been sentenced to three sentences. Unfortunately, Carmelita died without any compensation, "said the lawyer.
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