World Notes Poland

On Feb. 8 the 2,000-ton Polish freighter Busko Zdroj foundered in a gale 100 miles off the Danish coast with the loss of 24 of its 25-man crew. Following a lengthy inquiry, a maritime court in Gdynia has found that the loss of the Busko Zdroj was the result of official bungling.

Testimony revealed that the vessel, one of twelve designed in Poland but built in Rumania in the early '70s, was virtually doomed from the day its keel was laid. When the ships' designer saw the haphazard way in which they were being constructed, he complained to Polish authorities and resigned after his plea was ignored. Judge Andrzej Przybielski accused the Register of Shipping of "glaring negligence" in allowing the vessel to be built with faulty and substandard steel. He also cited an inoperative emergency radio, faulty signal flares and the crew's lack of familiarity with other safety equipment. But Przybielski did not call for the criminal prosecution of those responsible. That prompted angry relatives of the dead seamen to appeal to Poland's Maritime Supreme Court. The Busko Zdroj case is likely to be heard there next month.