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On 2nd November, an incident occurred where a landing craft capsized right outside the MPL harbor due to two excavators being unloaded from a cargo boat to the landing craft, resulting in the death of two people. Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) has said that the landing craft was being captained by an unlicensed individual and that the landing craft capsized due to the individual requesting an excavator be moved to the side.
In the preliminary report that was published after an internal investigation from the MPL regarding the incident, it reads that since maintaining stability during the loading of cargo onto the landing craft is the captain's responsibility, the two excavators were loaded onto the craft at the instruction of the captain.
However, the investigation showed that the placement of the excavators had changed after MPL employees had finished their work, as per the report.
"The reason why the landing craft capsized is because the captain had requested the excavator at the front of the craft be moved portside after the work had concluded, subsequently leading to a loss of stability," as was written in MPL's report.
As per MPL, even though there was a safety certificate for the landing craft, there was something that was not done in order to ensure the stability of the vessel while loading heavy cargo, which was not putting down planks on the deck of the landing craft.
Noted Issues
- The captain of the landing craft did not have a license to operate the landing craft nor a navigational certificate
- While safety measures and the like were in bounds of the regulations, planks were not put down on the deck when loading cargo. Chances of slipping due to the metal deck while onboarding and travelling with cargo also existed. This is something that can cause a loss of stability.
- The captain is the one responsible for ensuring the stability of the landing craft as per regulations while loading cargo during a Direct Delivery Operation (transfer of cargo directly from the cargo boat to the vessel sent by importers). After the excavators were loaded onto the landing craft as per the captain's instructions, the equipment used to load the cargo was sent back to the cargo boat after the work had been finished after the captain's approval.
- However, after the work had been done, the captain requested the excavator at the front of the landing craft be moved portside, resulting in a loss of stability and subsequent capsizing.
- When the landing craft capsized, the 10 MPL employees on the vessel fell into the ocean, suffering various degrees of injuries. At the time, MPL employees were getting ready to board a tug boat to go back to the MPL harbor, which was when the landing craft started listing.
MPL stated that the operation to board both excavators onto the landing craft were done within regulations.
MPL also said that the consignee of Direct Delivery Operations checking the captain sent to load cargo, assessing the quality of the crew and checking licenses are things that are not required as part of the company's rules and regulations.
"However, the regulation has been reviewed and changed since," as was written in MPL's preliminary report.
MPL said that while taking the investigation into account, they are enforcing the necessary action that is to be taken.
Two people died in the capsizing incident. They were both employees of MPL, one being a Maldivian and the other an expatriate.
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