Embedded Files
The guy driving the Suez Canal excavator says he got by on 3 hours of sleep a night and hasn't been paid his overtime yet
The guy driving the Suez Canal excavator says he got by on 3 hours of sleep a night and hasn't been paid his overtime yet
Mia Jankowicz Apr 8, 2021, 1:04 PM
Abdullah Abdul-Gawad told Insider about helping free the Ever Given ship from the Suez Canal.
Abdullah Abdul-Gawad told Insider about helping free the Ever Given ship from the Suez Canal.
He said the work was exhausting and he and his colleagues barely slept.
He said he's proud of his role in the unusual event but felt he got little official recognition.
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When the excavator operator Abdullah Abdul-Gawad learned that there was an emergency at the Suez Canal, he thought it meant he would have no work that day.
Instead the hours ahead — and the next five days and nights — had quite the opposite in store. The Ever Given, a skyscraper-size container ship, became lodged in the banks of the canal on March 23, and Abdul-Gawad's boss needed him urgently.
"We need you to get in a car and come right now because you're the only excavator driver who's close enough," Abdul-Gawad, speaking with Insider via an interpreter, recalled being told.
Describing the scene that faced him at work, Abdul-Gawad told Insider it was "really quite something."
"It was awe-inspiring," he said.
The 28-year-old, who has been operating excavators since university, said he and his colleagues worked 21-hour days, barely sleeping — and still had not received their overtime pay.
Here's how he said events unfolded from inside the excavator cabin.
David versus Goliath
Freeing the Ever Given was an international effort, with winches, dredgers, tugboats, and excavators all brought in. But Abdul-Gawad was the man who was literally at the rock face of the problem. Once he got to the base of the ship, there was no choice but to start digging.
In his estimation, the Ever Given's bow was lodged about 6 meters, or 20 feet, higher than where the ship ought to have been floating. Its stern was also sitting on the opposite bank, and the sideways ship was blocking all traffic.
To approach the base of the vessel, he built a makeshift "bridge" from rubble he dug up, allowing him to get closer.
The image of the little excavator gave the world unparalleled meme fodder, but for Abdul-Gawad the situation was far less funny — it was dangerous.
Under the looming sides of the ship, he feared destabilizing the ship and having it topple onto him. "The thing is, I was terrified that the ship might list too far to one side or the other," he said. "Because if it fell onto its side on me, then it's goodbye me, and goodbye excavator."
"If you see the size of the ship and you see the size of the excavator, it is absolutely terrifying."
Two more excavators arrived at the scene a couple of days in, but their drivers were too apprehensive to do what Abdul-Gawad was doing, he said. Instead, they cleared away the materials near the base after he had dug it out.
21-hour days
Driving the excavator in his flip-flops, Abdul-Gawad undertook hours of digging.
This would be followed by half-hour bursts of the tugboats making an attempt to pull the vessel, when Abdul-Gawad and his machine would get a walkie-talkie signal to retreat.
"But, you know, until I got 5, 6 meters down, there was no movement," he said.
By the second day, memes of his excavator — based on an image circulated by the Suez Canal Authority — flooded his social-media feeds.
To him, it felt as if "everyone was just making fun of it," he said. "And that was what made me so determined," he continued. "I was like, you know, you're making fun of me. So I'm absolutely going to prove that I can do this."
But it was by no means clear he could.
"It can't really be funny to me because I didn't know whether this ship was going to come out or not, and I was in the middle of the situation," he said. It became a personal mission.
"So I was feeling like, instead of mocking, you might actually do something to help me believe that I'm going to be able to get this ship out," he added.
As the days wore on, Abdul-Gawad said, he and his colleagues grabbed brief moments of rest in a barracks used by border guards working nearby. "They knew that if we went home, they wouldn't see hide nor hair of us for another eight or nine hours," he said.
At most, he said they got about three hours of sleep a night, and one night took only one hour.
The release
On Thursday 25, a specialized dredger boat — the Mashhour — joined the efforts. Abdul-Gawad's job was to shift rock and sand material from the ship's bow while the Mashhour dislodged the silt from the canal bed, he said.
The combined effort — with the help of a high tide — gave hopeful signs the next day, and finally succeeded on March 29. Ever Given's release set every worker cheering — and tugboats honking — in celebration.
Abdul-Gawad said he and his colleagues had been "half-dead with exhaustion."
"We had been stretched to our limit," he said.
But seeing what they had done changed all that. "As tired and exhausted as we were," he said, "the minute we saw the ship sailing off, it was like the tiredness evaporated, because of such a sense of achievement."
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took a victory lap, releasing a statement that said: "Egyptians have ended the crisis of aground vessel EVER GIVEN despite the enormous technical complexity that surrounded the process."
And then ... near silence
The Suez Canal is a source of national pride in Egypt, dubbed "Egypt's Gift to the World" on billboards when the channel was expanded in 2015.
But Abdul-Gawad said he had barely been included in the celebrations. Aside from a small ceremony held by one newspaper, he has received almost no official recognition for his role, he said.
"I was invited to the ceremony where they honored the people who got the ship out," he said. It was mainly for Suez Canal Authority employees, he said, which does not include Abdul-Gawad since he works for a subcontractor.
He said it felt like an afterthought. The event was in a city four hours away, and he got the invitation an hour and a half in advance, he said.
He feels sore about that. "So the Suez Canal Authority was patting itself on the back and telling themselves what a great job they did," he said. "But in the end ... without an excavator, the ship wouldn't have gone anywhere. It might still be stuck."
Nonetheless, Abdul-Gawad says he will look back on those extraordinary days with pride.
"This is an achievement," he said. "It's an achievement for Egypt first, but it's an achievement for me as well. This is something that happens maybe once in a lifetime or, you know, maybe twice. It's something to be proud of."
Loving memory
8 April 2021 remembering late Ramsey Alfred Makar who passed on 8 April 1996 (asphyxia), while MM in Holland with JR. Details of stonemason preparing gravestone were in TRD's Cannon St office, with the rest of MM's private belongings, in this case from 2004, after JR and MM visited the stonemason in East London to obtain sample stones.
Herbert Smith repeatedly requested these details but they were not forthcoming. Finally before starting MM's appeal (Feb 2006), NEB indicated, tantalisingly that they would be handed over. They have not been.
Late RAM fellow beneficiary of the settlement of the late SSR. (Abacus, Headway, Naxos, Generic, Triad Group Plc etc).
RAM was an entrepreneur with Masters from Imperial College in Engineering, his first degree following the attainment of a scholarship whilst at Cairo University. His PhD was aborted due to the passing of his father Dr Alfred Makar FRCS, who had a decade of service at Charing Cross Hospital under his belt and was introducer of radiology to Egypt where he served in the Coptic Hospital and his own clinic.
RAM built MECO with partner,Misr Electrical Company, manufacturing radios and radiograms selling throughout the Middle East and North Africa, with 200 engineering staff. A smaller radio has been on display at entrance of British Museum (theme of Egypt in 1960's) .
After nationalisation, the family travelled to Holland as refugees. Late RAM worked for Philips Eindhoven and Apeldoorn, which had been a supplier to MECO, in arrangements pre agreed prior to nationalisation when the factory continued at risk due to its success
Opened new factories for Philips down the west coast of Africa and doubled production in existing factories. Later in UK set up polythene extrusion factory using oerlikon extruders. Succeeded in doubling output from machinery and had senior technical engineers and designers from Oerlikon visit the UK to find out how he had done it. Operation ran 24x7 and employed disabled, those with incomplete education and those coming out of prison in priority to others, with some hiccups in the consequences including arson (mental illness). RAM Principle: if I am in a position to offer dignity and income to those disadvantaged, then that is what I am bound to do and choose to do. It is obvious.
Until 8 April 2021, AMF has not delivered on NEB's apparent promise in February 2006, despite requests from Herbert Smith from February 2005, to provide the details of the stonemason chosen to build the gravestone.
On records released by A&O AMF's priorities have been elsewhere. A&O instructions behind MM's back (TRD) were for a plan to hire women security officers to keep MM out of Cannon St Godalming Milton Keynes.
By such planning, it was the intention (supported by AMF) that she had no access to the details of the stonemaker preparing her late father's grave, she could not participate in the completion of the burial of her late father (so it remains incomplete, nor could she start to grieve let alone move on to plan the delivery of his wishes, her task as "principal beneficiary" and therefore effectively CEO of the SSR settlement, whose success is measured by what it puts in, now what it takes out, and being non domiciliary source funding, can ensure resource can get to where it can be most effective in the hands of those able, motivated but excluded.
Delivering to beneficiaries: Abacus
Abacus as MM indemnifier were investors with SSR and SSRM personally in protecting TRD its officers and employees from January 2005. SSR personally funded £25k Client Monies to Herbert Smith on 7 February 2005, with Abacus back up and indemnity part of HS business acceptance ("Client Source Verification").
Herbert Smith was hired by MM as Executive Deputy ChairmanGroup CEO and Finance Director (CFO, right to be heard at AC meetings, without whom AC meetings could not be convened, AC terms were filed in court by A&O and again by RPC in 2009, so repeatedly res judicata). Expenditure is indemnified under the Articles of TRD and is automatically that of TRD.
HS did not declare conflict until May 2005 in regard relationships between David Gold their senior partner and Guy Beringer QC, A&O managing partner they were required to communicate with but could not, (trustee BAILII) and David Gold and Tim Pope PwC (described as "golf course" deal).
They were already in damage mitigation mode from June 2005 when they advised that PwC were bound to resign and DHW would be "hung out to dry by A&O". PwC had revealed Kelsey was a mere employee, could not therefore have signed public company accounts, as she had for Generic for March 2003 and March 2004 together with Yvonne Dixey, despite being a dormant, and duping some unidentified PwC person to sign Group accounts.
Generic was supposedly Jonathan Hambleton's "client" or so he told MM before repeatedly putting the phone down on her in January 2005.
Hambleton (Freeths LLP) is witness to MM's email for these purposes being mira.makar@triad.group.plc (2.2.05 and 3.2.05); to the hacking of that email (belonging to TRD as well as MM), and the splaying of it all over public courts including with the privilege contained within it. Unlimited damages under whistleblowing public interest law are in point, indemnified by Allianz from February 2006. These issues are already in the judicial system and cannot be blocked by any fresh issue in December 2018. This is because the request to the court to issue automatically brings them to life.
Post HS informing absence of independence
In June 2005, Kelsey revealed she did not know what further contact she would be allowed to have, if any. She confirmed she was given three week vacation from 8 July 2005, two weeks in France motoring and a week in Devon, to keep her out of the way, during which time no-one contacted her from PwC.
PwC did not provide a "letter to management" before making an adverse report under the Companies Act 1985 on 26 July 2005 mainly because they had reviewed and input to the three Reports to the Audit Committee already in January 2005 and had nothing to add until they received a "letter of representation" from MM, confirming she had access and could prepare books and records in accordance with Companies Act and, in fact had done so. Ian White and Nigel Tristem dealt with this in their letter to Burges Salmon LLP; it has been before the court in 2009 and is res judicata.
Parker Arrenberg, through Kim Arrenberg had become TRD employment lawyers with A&O (Julie Quinn, partner) . This was after the debacle in the ET after TJH resigned having failed at sales when JR put him on his board in June 1999, telling him he had to work with IMH, and AMF walking off as non executive chair and CJD departing without any agreement with MM, both of them leaving her in the lurch and TRD at risk as to who JR would add who actually had no desire to be there. IMH retired by rotation in summer 2006, having traded in summer 2005 after PwC's adverse report under the Companies Act, thereby triggering Rule 9 mandatory or loss of opportunity for blocking it. As solicitors to the court they wrote to MM privileged advice that there was risk that her authority was being undermined. They referred to IMH who AMF and JCR were using as a front, bringing him to A&O meeting on 24 January 2005, set as an Audit Committee meeting to receive A&O advice that was not delivered, note of which were stolen by them, bringing JR's board to an end as board meetings were suspended.
On 31 January 2005 MM was asked at another meeting whether she agreed to cede her authority. She did not agree. Instructions to advise 31 January 2005 and 3 February 2005 were issued by TRD jointly to Parker Arrenberg and A&O, the senior executive team having identified that instructions were being accepted by A&O but no advice was forthcoming which was suspicious. By the evening of 3 February 2005, DHW had accepted instructions that he would consult with a second partner the following morning before reverting. By 7th February 2005, he went straight to Kim Arrenberg Parker Arrenberg essentially to sack him from TRD supply.
DHW hacking privileged advice to a public company and sacking the adviser is not conduct that Triad Group Plc, its officers and its members can condone. Parker Arrenberg has sued defensively (Burges Salmon on the record with Mark Cannon QC and Bernard Livesey) and been protected in private arrangement, involving their co-operation (Allianz damage mitigation).
Be that as it may in regard DHW hacking, Fladgate had accepted instructions mid day 3 February 2005. It was an existing TRD supplier brought in whenever A&O decided to act against the hand that feeds them, their own customers. Fladgate's phone record accepting instructions is on this site.
They have been identified by Simon Hobbs (Freeths LLP) as being key in 2012 Folio 336 default judgment July 2012. TRD and its officers are protected from 3 February 2005 by 2012 Folio 336 and by A&O accepting instructions on prejudice to minorities 2 Feb 2005.
FLADGATE: PROPERLY APPOINTED
BY TRIAD GROUP PLC
Written Advice With Request For Receipt
Concerning Renewal of Cannon Street Lease Requiring Consideration By Board Of Directors Of Triad Group Plc By Deadline
Advice Not To Attempt Service Of Documents Without Solicitor
Properly Appointed By The Company
17 August 2005
Access to Cannon Street Office (MM's London Office) was blocked to her from 4 February 2005, together with access to her private belongings including family medical records, life insurance policy with Allied Dunbar, personal telephone book including that of family, details of stone mason preparing late father's grave stone, tax and bank papers, leaving her accounts and tax affairs open from April 2005. HMRC Investigation Started 30 June 2006 as a result with no means of dealing with it without access and in the light of the A&O fire, as well as the disappearance of Abacus on 1 November 2005 further to predatory activity from which Triad Group Plc was not protected. Contracts with Abacus provided for use of fire proof vaults. Delivered through A&O. By making A&O hostile the service contract with Abacus could not be enforced, exposing the contents of the vaults liable to hacking, including the identity of late SSR who was not informed and whose identity was shamefully splayed on Jersey court website from January 2014, for which no compensation will ever suffice.
As at 10 April 2021 16: 15 Freeths LLP has not procured the removal of three BAILII postings for which it is responsible, nor as any mark of respect to the late SSRM, who had knowledge of the Jersey postings of her late sister and suffered from them until her own trauma induced untimely departure.
AMF has filed aligning himself with Raymond Jack's fiction, choosing not to ask MM what it was about. Had he not given her the silent treatment, he would have known it was a fiction made up by Penrose Margaret Foss (BT lawyer, Oxford brigade, with Christopher Semken generating lawyers bills to steal from nieces of deceased non domiciliaries, to pay themselves including flats, Perotti case, and lock targets up in the Court of Appeal until they give in) .
Foss wanted to create a QBD "appeal" to straddle 1 April 2013, after which certain conditional fees and litigation funding became unlawful after the Jackson Reforms.
By inference he has also locked himself into the "judgment" on BAILII Dec 2010 using MM's name, created by a false bundle manufactured by A Davidson RPC and smuggled into the C of A 10 November 2010.
Why AMF and Eileen Fulton should want to align themselves with RPC in this way from December 2010 for a decade, including their referral to FRP is a total mystery.
If AMF had asked and realised these were there to mislead him (a ) he would not have fallen for the plot; (b) he could have asked whose action it was to fix it and be told Allianz with Burges Salmon. BS identified Catherine Kewish (RPC) as liar and thief in 2008 when she said MM had consented to use of TRD files and BS's privilege despite the letter to Ian White dated 4 April 2007, requiring their return. This was the letter relied on by Robert Jackson in the permission on 18 February 2010. Jackson LJ also identified Kewish as liar as she told him MM was not represented and she offered a barrister hired by her.
She paid £200 on 5 March 2010 to infiltrate MM's appeal and was exposed by Associates on 26 August 2011. She created "MM's Appeal Bundle 2 " to wrapper a "respondent's notice which said that the (non existent ) respondent wanted to preserve "their " phyrric win but all else could change ( a facility for real respondents to bolster their position, no more). MM's files were stolen and shredded with the fictions before the C of A after RPC had been let in by truncating directions from Richards LJ, supervising, and listing before MM's request for a preliminary hearing on the right of random third parties to be heard and receive notice from the C of A or otherwise. The secret bundle of forged evidence which went to Hughes LJ only was provided by C of A in March 2011 and a new P.I. number allocated under the umbrella 2009 /1711, appeal not yet heard. Anything to do with RPC just gets added including FRP. This is known by C of A and records from 2014 are on this site.
Triad and those interested are joined with MM as appellants automatically. It makes no sense for AMF or anyone else to go contrary or attempt to get into the C of A without the benefit of MM's privacy designation extended to TRD etc.
The longer the BAILII postings with TRD's name remain (and AMF and NEB) the more perverse and isolated AMF is and NEB locked in. This makes no sense at all.
MM note drafted 10 April 2021 16:45
IAN NARBETH PARTNER FLADGATE HOLDER ONE SHARE
ATTENDS TRIAD GROUP PLC PRIVATE MEMBERS' AGM PROPERLY
Feb 19, 2018, 8:40 PM by Custodian of Information
Feb 19, 2018, 8:40 PM by Custodian of Information
on page Additional Resources (replication Dropbox 12 10 23 in Resources Apr 2, 2013, 7:00 PM)
Additional Resources (replication Dropbox 12 10 23 in Resources Apr 2, 2013, 7:00 PM)
> pp1458 -2012 Folio 336- FLADGATE 3 Feb 2005 acceptance of instructions
3 February 2005 13.47 for over one hour.
Outbound call by Simon Cullingworth Head of Litigation Fladgate and supplier to Triad Group Plc including in overseas investigative work in Poland.
Simon Cullingworth's call was made to MM's mobile 07768 610071 (paid for by TRD), the outbound call records of which were the subject of hacking and filing in court by A&O to be used as evidence against MM ,as well as to publicly humiliate her, that her every phone call made was going to be circulated to the world however private however privileged.
Triad Group Plc, through 2012 Folio 336 rejected this contamination of evidence on 22 September 2020 and confirmed on 23 September 2020 that this was now on the court record treated as heard the previous day. Between 15.40 and 16.40 on 22 September 2020, a secret hearing took place to secure a warrant to arrest MM to get her put into police prison and transferred to high security prison Bronzefield thereafter.
The action was sponsored by those wishing to become TRD directors but who did not make it on 24.9.20 due to the interception of those determined to block consensus between JR/MM as joint principal shareholders or by refusing to facilitate consensus for purpose or purposes unknown. The transcript of the event has been paid for from TRD shareholder funds but retained by Freeths LLP to be used against TRD, its members, those interested.
Fladgate confirmation of instructions of three day site investigation at Milton Keynes of customer and supplier contracts and the reason why Bank of Scotland was not asked to provide statements of payments made through BACS information systems, an extra report that should be purchased with bank statements. Also investigation of Vodafone contract unexplained receipts and cover up by Jonathan Hambleton and Kimbles, now Freeths with obstruction of access by them under orders of Yvonne Dixie
Evidence filed in court. Fladgate are key (non hostile) witnesses,
MM v Fladgate default judgment July 12.: required to deliver up notes of these accepted instructions.
HOUSE RULES IN MAKAR HOUSEHOLD
8 November 2005
Evidence TRS staff expected to sign up to wall of silence towards TRD Executive Deputy Chairman, Group CEO, Finance Director, CFO with rights to be heard at AC meetings, as well as joint principal shareholder
Malcolm North member of Executive Management Team TRD
JR shareholder representing the market: AMF has to explain how insider information was leaked and why if senior staff knew MM required the details of the stonemason creating MM's father's gravestone, he continued to refuse her access over nine months' after Herbert Smith required access to belongings?
Filed in court by A&O under instructions from those devoid of respect for others whether dead or alive and indifferent as to which it is.
NOTICE TO FREETHS LLP:
You are in overtime to extricate TRD and those under its umbrella. BAILII notices need to come down as does Gazette Notice. You are responsible for the lot as well as your arrangements with DMH Stallard, Reuben Comiskey and therefore FRP (ie RPC). You could have got out by 13 February 2020, by meeting and accepting exiting Allianz at £3m to TRD benefit paid to Burges Salmon Client Monies who have a contract to serve Allianz. Secret stack would have been protected. You turned this offer down, one presumes without even asking them. The consequences are for their account and notified publicly.
Under insurance law of utmost good faith you must provide them with full recovery path from Markel. Until you do this Allianz remains exposed.
You will not have freedom to manoeuvre whilst clinging to our collective coat tails being TRD members and those interested.
AMF was told the contract you have with us was hopeless protection and Allianz notified the previous week. AMF is entitled to rely on this.
Please demonstrate by conduct you have completed the first step so TRD can prepare accounts for 31 March 2021 without Part 20 from its supply chain and others, as it was you who led us up the gum tree knowing 2016 proxy poll voting was not public and we could not protect ourselves.
Sending out private investigators to find MM's family and hound them to the grave and beyond, cannot be covered as acceptable behaviour by your secret insurance stack (or broker), but it is the consequence of allowing you to notify on a claims basis not incident or potential incident. This extended leeway and facilitating of unsupervised conduct amounts to terror financing. It is rejected.
MM 10 April 2021 17:30
2005 - 2021 Campaign Of Public Humiliation
to ensure MM never returns to public office
31 October 2005 Private Shareholders Meeting
AMF allows secret infiltration by Citi Profile together with
Daily Telegraph journalist not signed in and not known to Triad Group Plc board
for sole purpose of being able to deploy archived pictures of
MM as front for TRD and publicly humiliate her and her family
Campaign of Public Humiliation Relentless 2005 - 2021
Including By Publishing On
BAILII, Secret Subscription Services And Williams Lea (Gazette)
even where it is known that this is damaging to all concerned to no effect
MM 10 April 2021 18:00
further to BAILII posts not being removed when they should have been as soon as possible after Simon Hobbs Freeths LLP allowed to break silence of non comms from January 2005, to which Freeths (ex Kimbles) are witness as well as cutting of MM's email mira.makar@triadgroup.plc.uk and adopting DHW and A&O as sole comms channel. This is until 16 Sept 2016 meeting MM AMF, notes of which remain withheld by AMF, debarring AMF from ever being able to step into court, where he now is and blindly refuses to come out
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