A crewman was watching music videos on his phone when he should have been monitoring his cargo ship’s progress, reports BBC.
MV Priscilla off Orkney
The MV Priscilla grounded in the Pentland Skerries off Orkney at 4.39 am on July 18 last year.
It was travelling from Klaipeda in Lithuania to Silloth in Cumbria carrying 3300 tonnes of fertiliser when the incident happened.
A Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report found that when the officer of the watch took over at 2am that day, he turned off track steering and switched on the vessel’s autopilot.
Vessel in imminent danger
Investigators said he then put the boat on an alternative route that placed the ship in “imminent danger“.
He then sat in a chair watching music videos that were being streamed to his mobile phone, and may even have fallen asleep for a time, the report said.
When the officer of the watch realised at around 4am that the vessel was off course, he decided to steer the ship between two small islands he could see ahead.
The report said: “When approaching Pentland Firth, Priscilla was set to the south of its planned track but this was not observed because the officer of the watch did not monitor the vessel’s progress for about two hours.“
“Instead, he sat in the bridge chair and watched videos. When the officer of the watch realised that Priscilla was off track, there was ample time to regain the planned route,“ the report added.
Alternate route without radar data
“The officer of the watch chose an alternative route that placed the vessel in imminent danger; as he relied solely on radar data and did not refer to navigational information when making this critical decision.“
There were no navigational alarms to warn of danger and, although the accident happened at night, no additional lookout had been posted.
Warnings addressed
MV Priscilla’s officer of the watch responded to two verbal warnings from shore authorities highlighting the danger ahead.
The second warning told him there were rocks ahead and clear water to the south his actions suggested he did not fully understand the situation.
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Source: BBC
