|
Post by ferryfast admin on Mar 27, 2006 22:45:02 GMT -5
Ferry on autopilot at time of sinking
Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press Published: Monday, March 27, 2006
VICTORIA -- The doomed B.C. Ferries vessel Queen of the North was on autopilot when it went off course and sank after striking Gil Island, sources told Global TV on Monday.
The two members of the bridge crew also failed to get the problem under control, said Global, citing sources close to the investigation and people who had spoken to crew members.
The three-member bridge crew normally take lunch between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. on the 15-hour overnight voyage between Prince Rupert and Port Hardy, on Vancouver Island.
The ship sank in about 400 metres of water around 1:30 a.m. last Wednesday, an hour after tearing its bottom out on the rocks of Gil Island.
Although 99 people passengers and crew made it to shore, two passengers are missing and presumed dead.
Global said the ferry was on autopilot as it neared Gil Island, where it was scheduled to make a turn.
An alarm sounded as it veered off course moments before the collision.
That triggered a cascading series of errors, one ferry official told Global. The key mistake was a failure to reduce speed, causing the ship to sail past it's turning point and plough into the rocks of Gil Island at 19 knots.
The two crew members also failed to ask for help from other officers to cope with the off-course warning, sources told Global.
The investigation so far has apparently also ruled out drugs or alcohol as factors in the accident.
|
|