MAIB had no authority to investigate the Sea Horse incident |23 July 2020

Lawyer Basil Hoareau and IDC chief executive Glenny Savy during yesterday’s interview (Photo: Joena Meme)

IDC relieved and satisfied with Supreme Court ruling

Islands Development Company chief executive Glenny Savy has expressed his relief and satisfaction with the Supreme Court’s recent ruling which declared that the Marine Accident Investigation Board had no authority to investigate the Sea Horse incident.

It was on Monday that Supreme Court Judge Melchior Vidot quashed the findings of the report produced by the Marine Accident Investigation Board (MAIB) since the inquiry was improperly undertaken under section 170 of the Merchant Shipping Act.

The inquiry was also said to be in breach of rules of natural justice due to the fact that the Islands Development Company (IDC) was never given the opportunity to correct or counter the adverse findings in the report.

Sea Horse, a vessel managed and operated by IDC, caught fire on August 24, 2018 leading to the demise of four out of its five crew members – Darren Morel, AVR Premathilaka, Nigel Fanchette and Norcy Serret. The Supreme Court officially pronounced them dead yesterday.

In an interview with members of the press yesterday at IDC’s headquarters, New Port, Mr Savy and IDC lawyer Basil Hoareau highlighted that this ruling will go a long way in helping the families of the deceased crew members during their compensation claim.

“There were a lot of points that were made in the report that were false. IDC had asked the MAIB’s chairman to review its finding since they were not true but the chairman categorically refused, stating that the investigation was good so they had given us no other option but to go to court,” said Mr Savy.

“It is a relief to see that justice has been done and the court has determined that there were some lies in the report. At the same time, justice has been made for IDC and by extension to me as the CEO,” Mr Savy underscored.

He noted that “it is a sad day” for a legal statutory body such as the MAIB since the latter’s actions distort the smooth functioning of the institutions put in place in the country.

“It is important for a report such as this one – which looks at an incident in which people lost their lives – to portray the truth and facts which we can learn from,” Mr Savy added.

With the report now declared null and void, the owner of the vessel – Universal –will be taking local insurance company Sacos to court since the latter used the report as justification not to pay Universal’s insurance claims on the vessel and its crew members.

Mr Hoareau, who also represents Universal, said “the ruling will help us with the insurance because it (Sacos) was using MAIB’s findings and now that the report no longer exists we are veering our attention towards the insurance claims to ensure that Sacos fulfills its contractual obligations.”

According to Mr Savy, in the meanwhile IDC has been helping the families of the deceased crew members, particularly in regards to their children’s education.

“The regrettable part of all this is that if MAIB had accepted our requests for a revision with humility, we would not have wasted the court’s time or our resources. And what is most regrettable is that, the boat’s insurer has refused to settle the claims which in turn affected the families of the crew members.”

“The insurance company cannot hide behind this false report anymore,” Mr Savy added.

Mr Savy also noted that IDC will welcome an unbiased, transparent and well-researched report from MAIB conducted under section 226 of the Merchant Shipping Act.

However, it is unclear which steps MAIB expects to undertake, whether it will seek to appeal or investigate the incident once more and produce a new report.

Attempts to contact the chairperson of the MAIB, Emily Gonthier, went unsuccessful with our calls going unanswered up to 8.40pm.

Elsie Pointe