Transcript
RUOIKABUTI TIOON: But I can share with yyou the general information, like general happenings, you know, but please be assured the full information will actually come out of the inquiry. And I can only state that the vessel from our end, the Marine Division, the vessel was seaworthy. However the vessel was not allowed to carry passengers. The vessel went aground twice in Nonouti. Our surveyors - they already came back from Nonouti - the vessel went aground twice in Nonouti. The Marine Division was not aware of such groundings, there was no report submitted by the master to this office about such groundings. There were so many passnegers on board the vessel. The vessel was fully loaded with copra sacks. Also I state again, no passengers allowed, no passengers allowed.
DON WISEMAN: WEhy do you think the boat ran aground just as it was leaving, why did it run aground?
RT: The area the vessel grounded, I would say ships coming to Nonouti, they never go to such a close position to the shore. That's where we believe the vessel went aground.
DW: Was the skipper familiar with Nonouti?
RT: The skipper was from the island of Nonouti. He had a good qualification but we have no idea why the master took the vessel that close to the shore, aor that place where it went aground.
DW: I know you have [earlier] suggested that the report you had got back was the crew were drunk.
RT: That is also the report we got from our interviews. Our two surveyors came back from Nonouti. They did a lot of interviews with the islanders, the locals, and that's what the islanders stated, that the crew were involved with alcohol. And it also aligns with our interviews here on the island of Tarawa with the survivors. We can p0rovie that the crew were involved in alcohol.
DW: So they had been drinking. You don't know whether they were drunk or not?
RT: That is the point that we cannot really address at this point in time.
DW: We have a possibly inebriated captain, who knows Nonouti well but he goes to a completely silly part of the coast and runs the boat aground, not once but twice. Do you finbd that remarkable?
RT: yes. I think for me, as a master mariner as well, you know I don't want to take the ship to a dangerous place. I don't want to endanger people's lives. That's my priority as a master. I want my ship to be safe. I want those on board, not forgetting the marine environment. Everything - people'ss lives, the ship, the cargoes, the marine environment, you know. But I think the master was not doing his job. He was aware that no passengers were allowed on board. He was fully aware, he knew, he saw that his vessel went aground twice. Too much copra loaded on his vessel - I think he was aware of that. The weather at that time was not good. It was rough weather. And I think those are the things that we cannot what's in the captain's mind at that time.
