A report released by the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) today following the agency’s investigation of last week’s Miroshga accident in Hout Bay cites flooding and unseaworthiness as the cause of the tragic incident, which took the lives of two people.
British tourist Peter Hyett, 64 and a local crew member of the boat John Roberts, 37, died when the sight seeing vessel capsized near Duiker Island last week. There were 37 passengers on board the boat at the time, several of whom were treated for minor injuries and hypothermia in local hospitals. All have since been discharged and are expected to make a full recovery.
According to SAMSA’s report of the accident, there were a sequence of preventable events that led to the vessel capsizing. The report cited flooding as the main cause of the capsize, after water entered into one of the fuel tank compartments and into the port. In addition, one of the port bilge pumps was incorrectly worried, which lead to the pump malfunctioning when it was activated by the automatic float switch as the port filled up with water.
As a result of the non-operational pump, water filled the port at a faster rate than could be removed by the single remaining bilge pump, and adjacent compartments of the ship flooded, causing instability of the vessel, said regional manager of SAMSA, Dave Colly. The increased water load made the Miroshga difficult to steer, and combined with heavy head winds and large waves crashing onto the deck, the outboard engines were submerged and all lost power as the engine air intakes were flooded.
With no engine to propel the vessel forward, and no steering mechanism remaining, the Miroshga began to drift at the mercy of the currents. The vessel was partially flooded and unstable, and finally a wave lead to the ship capsizing with all its passengers on board. Once the captain of the ship realised that he was not able to restart either of the vessel’s engines, he called for assistance on the radio which allowed for a rapid response on the part of the National Sea Rescue Institute.
Furthermore, SAMSA uncovered that the skipper of the Miroshga was not adequately licensed to operate a commercial passenger boat, according to maritime regulations. The boat itself was licensed in September 2003 to operate as a small passenger vessel carrying a maximum of 45 people, and was built in Port Elizabeth in 2002.
