‘Human error’ sank Manawanui

Friday, 29 November 2024

The crew of the Manawanui failed to switch off its autopilot and made other mistakes which sank the $103 million navy vessel, an inquiry has found.

Defence Minister Judith Collins and navy chief Rear Admiral Garin Golding revealed on Friday afternoon that “human error” was the reason for the Manawanui running aground, and then sinking, off the south coast of Samoa, on October 6.

The officer in control of the ship at the time, this officer’s supervisor, and the ship’s captain, Commander Yvonne Gray, would face disciplinary action after the Court of Inquiry process was finished.

The inquiry report comes just months after a similar incident in July grounded the Interislander ferry Aratere, after crew failed to disengage the autopilot before it ran aground. It’s understood the Aratere and Manawanui had the same make of positioning systems - Kongsberg - but it’s unknown if they are the same model.

Collins said it was “extremely disappointing” but the navy was taking its responsibility “extremely seriously”.

'Nobody is happy about this. This is not at all a good result. But as I've said, complaining about it's not going to make it better. The main thing is, we get on, we sort out all of the lessons from this. We don't allow this to happen again.'

Golding said he wanted to reassure New Zealand and Samoa the navy would “own it, fix it, and learn from it”.

“I know that it is on me, as the chief of navy, to earn back your trust.”

Golding said “human errors which meant the ship’s autopilot was not disengaged when it should have been” were determined to be the “direct cause” of Manawanui’s grounding.

“The crew did not realise 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.

“Muscle memory from the person in control should have lent over to that panel and checked whether the screen said autopilot or not.

“It's a human error. We are humans, we make mistakes.”

The Manawanui had been conducting a 22-hour survey on the edge of a reef on Samoa’s southern coast, in a strong 25 knot breeze and moderate swell, when the ship did not respond as intended to an attempted turn.

Having mistakenly diagnosed the problem, the crew failed to check the ship was under manual control as procedures required. The operating autopilot then meant the ship turned toward land, accelerating to more than 10 knots and travelling 635 metres while grounding multiple times.

After the Manawanui first grounded at 6:17pm on that Saturday, the crew regained full control of the ship 10 minutes later and attempted to turn it off the reef. However, it was grounded. While the hull of the vessel was not compromised, the ship was determined to be “no longer stable”.

At 6:46pm the decision was made to abandon ship -- which was successful as no lives were lost. Hours after abandonment, the ship caught fire and sank.

“Obviously, this has had an impact to our reputation,” Golding said, reiterating it was on the navy to “own it”.

“We thankfully did not lose any lives. However, lives have been affected, and we will continue to support and work closely with those that were on Manawanui that day.”

Audits have already been conducted of other navy vessels to ensure early lessons from the Manawanui sinking have been learnt, but the court of inquiry will continue to investigate other contributing factors to the sinking.

The inquiry has been run by Commodore Melissa Ross, a former deputy chief of navy, alongside three senior personnel: Captain Andrew Mahoney, Group Captain John McWilliam and Captain Dean Battilana, seconded from the Australian navy.

As set out under military law, the fact-finding inquiry proceeded behind closed doors and The Post’s Official Information Act requests related to the sinking have been denied because of this.

The inquiry could lead to anyone at fault being charged and put before a military court, or court martial.

However, any statements provided to the inquiry cannot be used in subsequent disciplinary or evidential proceedings ‒ such statements must be collected in a separate investigation.

Gray, captain of the Manawanui, said in a statement after the sinking that her “very worst imagining became a reality”.

“However, my team responded in exactly the way I needed them to. They acted with commitment, with comradeship and, above all, with courage.”

Collins had also defended Gray amid rampant online abuse in the days after the sinking, condemning a “misogynistic narrative that reared its head before our people had even made it home to New Zealand”.

An effort to extract up to 900,000 litres of diesel from its hull is ongoing; a salvage company’s tug boat has been preparing to leave New Zealand for more than a week, and Golding said it was expected to depart on Friday.

Salvage would begin on December 16.