Tunis, Jan 7, 2019 (AFP) – A collision between a Tunisian boat and a Cypriot container ship that sent hundreds of tonnes of fuel spilling into the Mediterranean in October was due to an extraordinary series of human errors, investigators said Monday. The watch officer on board the Tunisian vessel Ulysse was chatting on his phone, while his counterpart on the Cypriot container ship Virginia did not attend to radar alarms, Tunisian, French and Cypriot investigators said in a report presented in Tunis. The Tunisian vessel rammed into the Cyprus-based boat — anchored some 30 kilometres (18 miles) off Corsica — at full speed on the morning of October 7. “The captain of the Tunisian boat was busy… making private telephone calls. The Cypriot boat was anchored in an “inadequate” area, he added.

Source: The North Africa Journal January 07, 2019 18:45 UTC