WELLINGTON, New Zealand –
Mistakes by members of the crew caused a New Zealand navy ship to plow into a reef off the coast of Samoa, where it caught fire and sank, according to the preliminary findings of a military Court of Inquiry released Friday.
The ship’s crew did not realize autopilot was engaged, believed something else had gone wrong with the ship, and did not check the HMNZS Manawanui was under manual control as it maintained course toward land, a summary of the inquiry’s first report said. The full report has not been made public.
All 75 people on board the vessel evacuated safely as the boat foundered about 1.6 kilometres (a mile) off the coast of Upolu, Samoa, in October. The ship was one of only nine in New Zealand’s navy and was the first the …