WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – A mistake by crew members caused a New Zealand ship to run into the sea off the coast of Samoa, where it caught fire and sank, according to the first findings of a military court of inquiry released. Friday.
The ship’s crew did not see that the autopilot was working, they believed that something was wrong with the ship, and they did not check that HMNZS Manawanui was under manual control as it continued to land, according to the first report of such an inquiry. The full report has not been made public.
All 75 people on the ship got out safely as the ship ran aground 1.6 kilometers off the coast of Upolu, Samoa, in October. The ship was one of only nine in New Zealand’s navy and was the country’s first loss since World War II.
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Officials did not know the cause of the sinking at the time, and Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding ordered a Board of Inquiry to investigate.
“The direct cause of the grounding was determined to be a series of human errors which meant that the sailor was not removed when it should have been,” Golding told reporters in Auckland on Friday. “Remembering the muscle from the person in control should have leaned on the panel and checked whether the screen said autopilot or not.”
The ship’s crew “wrongly believed that their failure to respond to the change was due to a failure to control the pace.” Many of the reasons identified, Golding said, include training, planning, management, preparation and risk assessment.
The trial is expected to continue until the first quarter of next year. Golding said human error was identified as the cause, further disciplinary action will begin after an investigation.
Three of the crew members who were on the bridge at the time of the accident could face similar conditions, Golding added. They were the captain of the ship, the officer in charge of that person, and the captain of the ship. The navy chief did not want to name them.
“I want to assure the New Zealand public that we will learn from this situation and that it is up to me, as Chief of the Navy, to restore your confidence,” Golding said.
In the days after the sinking, New Zealand’s Defense Minister issued a scathing rebuke of “misogynistic” online bloggers who were directing insults at the ship’s captain because she was a woman.
The specialist diving and hydrographic ship has been serving New Zealand since 2019 and has been investigating the rockfall.
The sinking caused a lot of fear in the villages near the coast of Samoa about the destruction of the ship’s diesel in the sea. New Zealand officials said since the sinking most of the fuel had burned in the fire and that no environmental damage had been recorded.
The current flow of oil into the ocean was the “reluctance to slow down” that many are expecting, Golding said on Friday. Technical equipment is to be transported from New Zealand to Samoa by sea, starting this week, to remove oil and other contaminants that may come from the ship.
New Zealand officials have not made public plans to remove the ship from the reef.
“This has damaged our reputation,” said Golding. “We will own it, fix it and learn from it.”