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Hero gets his due

23rd June 1988, Page 23
23rd June 1988
Page 23
Page 23, 23rd June 1988 — Hero gets his due
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• 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.