New Zealand Navy ship sank due to human error, inquiry finds

PHOTO CAPTION: The Royal New Zealand Navy ship HMNZS Manawanui (A09) is seen during weapons firing practice in the Pacific Ocean during Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), Pacific Ocean, Aug. 19, 2020. (Royal Canadian Navy photo by Leading Seaman Valerie LeClair via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)

By Alasdair Pal

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A Royal New Zealand Navy vessel ran aground and sank off the coast of Samoa last month as a result of human error, a government-initiated inquiry found on Friday.

HMNZS Manawanui, the navy's specialist dive and hydrographic vessel, grounded on a reef on the southern side of Samoa, on Oct. 5 while conducting survey operations. All 75 crew members on board survived.

“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,” the head of New Zealand's Navy Rear Admiral Gavin Golding said in a statement on Friday.

The crew did not realise the ship remained in autopilot and consequently thought its failure to respond to direction changes was the result of a thruster control failure.

The reasons why the crew failed to notice the error would be part of a wider inquiry expected to be completed in the first quarter of next year, Golding said.

A separate disciplinary process into those involved would begin once that inquiry had concluded, he added.

New Zealand's Navy has been struggling with a lack of resources, three of its nine ships already idle due to personnel shortages before the sinking of the Manawanui.



(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates)