Captain of ship that ran aground in Tallinn was under influence of alcohol
The captain of a high-speed catamaran, which collided with a Tallinn pier on Sunday was under the influence of alcohol, according to the director of the company that owns the boat.
On Sunday evening, the Sunlines high-speed catamaran VEGTIND collided with a pier in Patarei Harbor while traveling to Tallinn from the island of Aegna. None of the passengers onboard were injured.
According to Kaspar Eisel, director of Spinnaker OÜ, which owns the catamaran, it had initially been thought the collision happened due to a technical malfunction, as the usual mooring procedure failed. The captain put the boat in reverse, but instead, it continued to move forward.
"We now know that the captain made a mistake and activated the wrong setting – a function was activated that keeps the ship's propeller in a position that only allows forward movement. As a result, the ship could not be stopped in reverse and, instead of the planned mooring, a collision with the pier unfortunately occurred," Eisel explained.
According to Eiseli, it became clear afterwards that the captain was intoxicated at the time the accident took place.
"Such behavior cannot be tolerated or justified in any way. Safe navigation is always a priority, and our company has a zero-tolerance policy regarding alcohol consumption by crew members. The captain has admitted his guilt in causing the accident, and we have terminated his employment," said Eisel.
"We are extremely sorry that this accident happened and we apologize once again to the people who were on the Aegna ferry as well as to our contractual partner, the Tallinn Transport Authority," Eisel added.
The VEGTIND has now been taken to port. The vessel is in need of repairs and will undergo a thorough inspection by the Transport Authority before returning to sea, Eisel said.
"From Friday, we will replace the VEGTIND with our other ship, the 300-passenger Strande. The route will continue as planned, but the trip will take an hour instead of the usual 30 minutes," said Eisel.
At the time of the collision, there were three crew members and 97 passengers on board the Vegtind. The Safety Investigation Bureau has begun investigating the causes of the accident.
---
Editor: Marko Tooming, Michael Cole
