‘No foul play or negligence in the MV Sea Horse fire tragedy’ |10 November 2021

Mr Renaud hands over the inquiry report to President Ramkalawan (Photo: Jude Morel)

There was no foul play or negligence in the MV Sea Horse fire tragedy according to the Commission of Inquiry mandated to look into the incident that happened on August 26, 2018 off the coast of Coetivy Island.

It was the chairperson of the commission, Justice Bernardin Renaud, who made the statement following the presentation of the first digital copy of the inquiry report to President Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday morning at State House.

Justice Bernardin Renaud was accompanied to State House by other members of the commission, namely Captain Robert Morgan, Marc Brutus, Idney Basset and Joseph Athanasius, including the secretary to the commission, Cecile Boniface.

The president was briefed on the work done by the commission and he was also briefed on the content of the report and on the recommendations.

“Definitely we say there was no foul play. It was a phenomenon that happened and the only thing we can do is use this experience for it not to happen again. In fact this was the objective of the inquiry – to look at what happened to make sure that we prevent it from happening again in the future,” Justice Renaud said.

He also said that the commission did not find any negligence on the part of anybody and that all those on board tried their very best throughout the journey, late at night in rough seas, to reach their destination, “but fire is fire and it happened”, he added.

Justice Renaud stated that they have made nine generalised recommendations among which include putting in place safety measures and regulations in case of a fire accident at sea or on our outer islands, given the fact that our economy is based on tourism.

He said that through the recommendations, the President has been asked to set up an institution to look into measures and regulations in regards to safety against fire at sea and on our outer islands.

He also made reference to the revision of insurance policies with regard to motor and sea vehicles involved in accidents.

It was former President Danny Faure who, two years after the incident, appointed the Commission of Inquiry in August 2020 to inquire into the tragedy of the Sea Horse which occurred in the early hours of Sunday August 26, 2018 off the coast of Coëtivy.

The appointment of the commission came after the Supreme Court Judge, Melchior Vidot, in July 2020, quashed the findings of the report produced by the Marine Accident Investigation Board (MAIB) mandated to conduct the inquiry under section 170 of the Merchant Shipping Act.

It is to be recalled that the 25-metre cargo vessel operated by the Islands Development Company (IDC) caught fire in the early hours of August 26, 2018, while on anchor, some 200 metres from the shore, waiting for high tide to unload its cargo as planned. The fire caused the vessel to sink.

Manned by five crew members, the vessel had arrived on the island in the evening of August 25, 2018.

MV Sea Horse had left Mahé two days before (August 24) with provisions including fuel for the Prison Services on Coëtivy. It used to do this journey with this type of consignment for the island on a weekly basis. Only one out of five crew members managed to escape and he was rescued shortly after the blaze started.

Until today, the four other crew members – Darren Morel, AVR Premathilaka, Nigel Fanchette and Norcy Serret – have never been found.

Justice Renaud stated that the commission did not make an investigation into the incident but rather sought for information on all angles possible on what had happened, although they, themselves, could not reach the vessel that sunk some 2000 metres deep to possibly know the cause of the fire.

As the commission had six months to hand in the report from the date of appointment, Justice Renaud explained that the delay was mainly due to the election process and the Covid-19 pandemic.

He added that they sought and was granted an extension of their mandate to October 2021 to finish the report.

He said that President Ramkalawan bears full responsibility to release the report to the public which will be done any time soon.

He also said that the commission is prepared to interact with interested parties on the report.

Patrick Joubert