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

By Alasdair Pal

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.