WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – Crew error caused a New Zealand Navy ship to plunge into a reef off Samoa, catch fire and sink, according to preliminary findings released by the Military Court of Inquiry. Friday.
An initial report summary of the investigation said the ship's crew were unaware that the autopilot was activated and believed that something else was wrong with the ship, causing HMNZS Manawanui to veer toward land. It is said that he did not confirm that it was under manual control while maintaining it. . The full text of the report has not been made public.
In October, a boat sank about 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) off the coast of Upolu, Samoa, but all 75 people on board were safely evacuated. The ship was one of only nine in the New Zealand Navy and the first ship the country lost at sea after World War II.
At the time, officials did not know the cause of the sinking, so the Secretary of the Navy, Rear Admiral Garin Golding, ordered a court of inquiry to investigate.
“The immediate cause of the grounding was determined to be a series of human errors which meant the ship's autopilot did not disengage when it should have,” Golding told reporters in Auckland on Friday. told. “The pilot's muscle memory was to lean over to that panel and see if the screen said autopilot.”
He said the crew “mistakenly believed that the failure to react to the direction change was due to a failure in the thruster controls.” Mr Golding said a number of factors were identified, including training, planning, supervision, readiness and risk assessment.
The Court of Inquiry is expected to last until the first quarter of next year. Mr Golding said human error had been identified as the cause and separate disciplinary proceedings would be initiated following an investigation.
Golding added that the three crew members who were on the bridge when the disaster occurred were likely to face such a process. They were the officer operating the ship, the officer supervising the person, and the ship's commander. The Navy secretary did not release their names.
“I want to reassure New Zealanders that we will learn from this situation and it is my responsibility as Navy chief to restore trust,” Mr Golding said.
Days after the sinking, New Zealand's defense minister scathingly rebuked a “misogynistic” online commenter who had verbally abused the ship's captain because she was a woman.
This specialized diving and hydrographic surveying vessel has been in service in New Zealand since 2019, investigating stranded coral reefs.
The sinking sparked fears in villages along the Samoan coastline near the shipwreck about damage caused by the ship's diesel fuel leaking into the sea. New Zealand authorities said after the ship sank that most of the fuel had been burned out in a fire and no environmental damage had been recorded.
The current spill of fuel into the sea is a “sustained slow leak” that is being monitored by divers, Golding said Friday. Specialist equipment is scheduled to depart this week and be transported by sea from New Zealand to Samoa to remove fuel and other potential contaminants from the ship.
New Zealand authorities have not announced plans to remove the ship from the reef.
“This has affected our reputation,” Golding said. “We own it, we fix it, and we learn from it.”
