Report on sinking delivered today

Press, 26 February 1986, Page 8

Report on sinking delivered today

PA Wellington The preliminary report on the sinking of the Mikhail Lermontov will be delivered to the Minister of Transport, Mr Prebble, today, t The closed inquiry ended on Monday after the Marlborough Harbour Board pilot, Captain Don Jamison, gave evidence on the February ! 6 sinking of the 20,000-ton Sovietliner.

Captains Steve Ponsford and Eric Galloway were working on the final draft of their report yesterday for the findings to be presented to Mr Prebble.

Mr Prebble will make the decision on whether to hold a full public inquiry

into the sinking, or whether to make the preliminary report public. Mr Prebble yesterday met the three Sovietmaritime experts who arrived at the week-end for their own examination of the sinking and the wreck now lying in 33 metres of water in Port Gore. Mr Prebble would not comment on the visit, although a spokesman for the three men said they were happy with the talks. The head of the Safety of Navigation and Rescue Operations and board member of the Soviet Merchant Marine Ministry, Captain Bronislav Maynagashev, the head of the Ministry’s legal de-

partment, Mr Georgiy Ivanov, and Captain Savin Oleg, of the Baltic Shipping Company, visited the wreck and talked to their contracted divers, the Ministry of Transport, and the crew of the sunken ship. The team said they wanted to establish the whereabouts of the sole casualty of the sinking, Pavel Alekseevich, and prevent environmental damage by draining the ship’s fuel oil. The last priority was the fate of the hull. The team leader, Captain Maynagashev, indicated it might be impossible to raise the wreck as the Marlborough Harbour Board desires.