Survivor recounts losing her daughter

By LESLIE OMARO
GWEN Mathew was one of the many mv Rabaul Queen sinking survivors who appeared before the Commission of Inquiry in Lae into the Feb 2 sea disaster.
She retold her story of courage, strength and faith that helped her survive the sinking.
The 40-year-old from Karkar Island, Madang, was on her way to Lae to resume her teaching duties with her eight-year-old son Tawari when the vessel sank.
She told the commission that in her struggle to escape from the sinking ship she lost her son.
Mathew was trapped on the cabin deck with 50 other mothers and their children when the vessel capsized and started to sink.
She told the lawyer assisting the commission Mal Varitimos that she did not know how she resurfaced as the vessel went down.
“I don’t know how I came out but when I opened my eyes, I saw a torch flashing towards me. A light from outside.
“So I swam down. I did not swim up. I swam down and when I put my hand near where the light was, I felt a glass door and I pushed my head but that was locked because that glass window was too small for me to go through.
“So I closed my eyes and when I was in the movement of twisting myself, I don’t know, I was in the sea,” she said.
Mathew suggested that shipping vessels should provide beds for mothers and children, especially on long voyages.