Troubled ferry line Iscomar has received a flood of complaints from passengers.

After the Carmen del Mar capsized last week on its return to Dénia from Ibiza, Friday’s crossing was delayed for two hours and sources from the company warned that not all passengers may be able to sail that day.

Those who were able to board were told that they would have to stop off in Formentera before being collected again for the next leg of the journey.

Affected passengers who attempted to make a formal complaint at the Iscomar office in Dénia were told they had to wait 30 minutes to be given an official form.

However, they ended up queuing for some hours.

Tired of waiting, some of the frustrated customers called in the Local Police.

Officers attempted to intervene, but passengers were given unnumbered, photocopied complaint forms which were invalid for the purpose.

An employee explained to the police “with everything that has happened in the last few days, we’ve used up the two books of complaint forms we had.”

Adding to Iscomar’s current poor service record, some 30 passengers due to embark in Dénia at 08.00 hrs on Friday were delayed due to a technical fault in the ferry.

They were advised by Iscomar employees to travel to Alicante or Valencia and take another ferry, whilst bosses negotiated with Balearía for a vessel to carry Iscomar passengers to the island at 11.00 hrs.

The ferry timetable for the rest of the day was adversely affected, with the 16.00 hrs ferry not departing until 20.00 hrs.

As the Carmen del Mar remains indisposed in the port of Ibiza on the Navy’s orders, Iscomar only has the use of fast ferry Pitusa Nova, which has limited passenger capacity.

Despite this, the firm continues to sell tickets.

Company sources say they will double the number of crossings to cope with demand.

Ibiza oil-slick ferry fleet suffers second crash
By: Samantha Kett, thinkSPAINtoday
Friday, August 3, 2007

A ferry bound for Ibiza suffered a crash on Wednesday night, raising fears about the safety of the fleet.

On July 11, the ship Don Pedro, part of the Iscomar line, collided with the island of Daus en route from Valencia to Ibiza and sunk beneath the waves with 150 tonnes of fuel on board.

Technicians have worked constantly since then to extract the spillage from the waters using specialist divers and cleaning vessels like the one shown in the photo.

This week, the Carmen del Mar ferry, also one of the Iscomar fleet and based in Dénia, crashed into one of the lighted buoys installed to guide ships to their destination at night.

The accident happened in the Es Freus strait between Ibiza and Formentera, although the company has not confirmed whether there were any passengers on board at the time.

Ibiza and Formentera’s naval division has ordered the Carmen del Mar to be taken off the water and analysed to ascertain the cause of the collision, even though it appears that there was no threat to nor loss of life.

A spokesperson from Iscomar says the organisation is specifically worried about passenger safety and the risk of causing sea pollution if an accident mirroring that of the Don Pedro were to occur again.