Sea Horse tragedy |19 August 2020

President appoints Commission of Inquiry

President Danny Faure has appointed a Commission of Inquiry 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.

President Faure has appointed Justice Bernardin Renaud as the chairperson of the Commission.  He has also appointed Captain Robert Morgan, Marc Brutus, Idney Bassetand Joseph Athanasius as the four other members of the Commission.

The Commission will be given six months to submit its report to the President.

It is to be recalled that only one out of five crew members managed to escape when the Sea Horse vessel caught fire almost two years ago, on August 26, 2018, off Coëtivy.

The cargo vessel operated by the Islands Development Company (IDC) left Mahé two days before (August 24) with fuel and food supplies for the Prison Services on Coëtivy.

The 25-metre vessel, which was being manned by a crew of five, arrived on the island in the evening of August 25 and remained at anchor some 200 metres from the shore, waiting for the high tide to start offloading the cargo. This was planned for Sunday August 26 when unfortunately the fire incident happened.

The four other crew members have never been found up till today.