The Victor Hugo ferry remains in Alderney awaiting inspections by surveyors and insurers after it drifted onto rocks late on Sunday with 59 passengers aboard. (Picture by James Varley, 0842476)
MANCHE ILES has insisted an engine fault was not to blame for the Victor Hugo ferry crashing into rocks in Alderney’s Braye Harbour on Sunday night.
While it confirmed that one of the boat’s engines failed en route from France to Alderney, it pointed to other possible causes.
The vessel ran aground as it left Alderney on Sunday night and passengers questioned whether the boat should have been allowed to attempt the last leg of its round trip to Guernsey after it appeared to ‘lose power’ during the crossing from France.
But a spokesman for Manche Iles maintained that the Victor Hugo was capable of running on three of its four engines.
He said it was unclear what had caused the boat to drift onto rocks but that high winds could have contributed.
‘There was a problem when the boat arrived in Alderney,’ he said. ‘The pipe that is meant to cool the engine down had a problem. But these vessels are perfectly fine to run on three engines so a decision was made by the captain to proceed.
‘That is perfectly fine within international regulations.’
The spokesman said the boat drifted onto rocks soon after being untied from the quay.
‘There is an investigation going on at the moment and I do not know if it was caused by a technical fault, if it was human error or if it was a big gust of wind,’ he said. ‘But it is not true that the boat crashed because of the problem with an engine.’
He said surveyors and representatives from the insurers would arrive in Alderney this week to carry out inspections and he could not say anything else until they have been completed.
Alderney’s deputy harbour master Mark Gaudion confirmed no-one from Manche Iles had visited the island yet.
He added that harbour officials had moved the Victor Hugo.
‘We towed it to berth two because number one is the only operational berth that we can discharge cargo from at the moment while the quay renovation work is going on,’ he said.
Article posted on 16th September, 2009 - 2.29pm
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