On the 25th of July 2020 at 19:26 the motor vessel M/V M/V Wakashio1, a cape size bulk carrier of 203,130 MT DWT and of length 295.95 m ran aground off the southeast of Mauritius off Pointe D’esny at position 20° 26.6’ S and 57° 44.6’ E while she was en-route to Tubarao port in Brazil.
Immediately prior to the grounding, the chief officer, the Captain and the Chief engineer were on the bridge trying to access the internet through the Mauritius telecommunications network. Furthermore, the Deck Cadet who was on lookout duty had been allowed to leave his post.
At the time of the accident, the Chief Officer was on duty on the bridge and his main duty was to ensure a safe navigational watch. It has been established through various statements made in the course of evidence before this Court of Investigation that access to mobile network communications to contact the family took precedence over his first and foremost duty to keep a safe navigational watch during his hours of duty.
Neither the Chief Officer nor the Master realized that the ship was heading straight onto the reefs, being incapacitated to fully assess the real position of the ship while she was approaching dangerously the south-east coast of Mauritius due to improper monitoring of the navigational equipment which was either overlooked or not being used to their full potential. The absence of a large scale chart for the region, coupled with the over reliance on an over-zoomed small scale Electronic Navigation Chart on the Electronic Chart Display Information System (ECDIS), and consumption of liquor by the master on the bridge compounded the risks of a serious grounding casualty of the vessel.
On the following days the vessel was at the mercy of stormy weather and salvors tried to stabilize her by filling hold N° 8 with sea water on the 2nd of August. Cracks started to develop just after the forward of the accommodations, followed by multiple cracks in the hull structure of the vessel which finally broke into two parts causing a spill of heavy oil of an estimated amount of 1000 T.
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