An interim report has found that the HMNZS Manawanui grounded and sank off the coast of Samoa as a result of human error.
The Royal New Zealand Navy ship hit a reef on the southern side of Samoa on October 5, while conducting survey operations.
Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding launched a Court of Inquiry afterwards and released its interim findings.
“The direct cause of the grounding has been determined as a series of human errors, which meant the ship’s autopilot was not disengaged when it should have been,” Golding said.
“The crew did not realize Manawanui remained in autopilot and, as a consequence, mistakenly believed its failure to respond to direction changes was the result of a thruster control failure.”
Golding said “standard procedures” should have prompted the ship’s crew to check the vessel was under manual control, rather than autopilot.
“This check did not occur. Remaining in autopilot resulted in the ship maintaining a course toward land, until grounding and eventually stranding.”
Golding said why this had happened and what would come next were still being worked on as part of the wider Court of Inquiry, expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year.
A separate disciplinary process would commence after the Inquiry was over given the sinking was caused by human error, he said.
Source: Radio New Zealand
