Watch Officer From Grounded Turkish Bulker Charged With Negligence

 

A deck officer from the bulker Ali Aykin has been charged with gross negligence in connection with the vessel's grounding off Sweden last month. Prosecutors allege that he was using his cell phone in the runup to the grounding and was navigating without an operable sonar depth sounder. 

In the early hours of May 25, the aging bulker Ali Aykin was headed northbound into the Øresund on a voyage from Gdansk, Poland to Setubal. At about 0015 hours, she missed the entrance to the shipping channel and deviated to the northwest. At 0100, she went aground on a charted shoal, south of the Øresund Bridge.

The vessel was carrying about 18,000 gallons of diesel in her tanks, and Swedish authorities were keen to see her refloated and removed. Flooding in one ballast tank complicated the salvage, but overnight June 4-5, tugs pulled her off the shoal and escorted her to a port of refuge.

The watch officer on duty during the casualty has been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence in maritime traffic, and on Wednesday, prosecutors released the details of the charges. Authorities allege that the mate on night watch was navigating without the help of a lookout, and without a working sonar. He was on his cell phone during the transit, prosecutors claim. The officer denies the charges.