A New Zealand military inquiry has found "a series of human errors" — and a lack of training and experience — led to the sinking of a navy vessel off the coast of Samoa last year.
The Court of Inquiry's final report, released on Friday, found the crew of the HMNZS Manawanui did not identify risks related to their task of carrying out a survey of waters near Samoa's coast, and that there was a lack of supervision.
"The direct cause of the grounding has been determined as a series of human errors," the report said.
The Manawanui, a dive and hydrographic vessel, ran aground on a reef on the southern side of Samoa before catching fire and sinking in October last year.
All 75 people on board evacuated to safety as the boat foundered 1.6 kilometres off the coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island.
The ship was one of only nine in New Zealand's navy and was the first the country lost at sea since World War II.
[YouTube Samoa NZ navy ship]An interim report released in November found the crew did not realise autopilot was engaged, believed something else had gone wrong with the ship, and did not check that the Manawanui was under manual control as it maintained course toward land.
The final report from the Court of Inquiry raised other problems including insufficient training, lack of qualified personnel on board and inadequate risk management.
It also said some witnesses pointed to "hollowness" — or personnel gaps — in New Zealand's navy, and the Court of Inquiry found this prompted the organisation to "take risks" to meet demands "with a lean and inexperienced workforce".
The report included a dramatic transcript of what unfolded on the ship's bridge, with one crew member saying to another that the ship was "not really doing what I want it to do" as they tried to change the vessel's course.
New Zealand Navy Chief Garin Golding said the organisation's reputation had "taken a hit".
"It's a bad day for the navy," he said.
The navy would "learn from" the episode and ensure it was not repeated, and had already begun implementing some recommendations in the report, he said.
The inquiry findings also urged recognition for those involved in the decision to abandon ship, saying they had saved lives during the evacuation.
The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel had been in service for New Zealand since 2019 and was surveying the reef it ran aground on.
Its sinking provoked alarm, demands for compensation and fear of environmental catastrophe for Samoan villagers living on the coast where it capsized, who said they feared permanent damage to the reef ecosystem.
Samoa's government lifted a no-fishing zone around the vessel in February.
New Zealand's military said last month that it had completed work to remove diesel fuel and other pollutants from the ship, which remains where it sank, but salvage work to retrieve equipment and weapons continues.
Seawater and marine life in the area were "uncontaminated", the NZ military said, citing Samoa's scientific research agency.
A decision about whether the ship will eventually be removed has not been made.
The ABC approached the Samoan government for comment.
AP/Reuters
