Seconds to disaster
Thursday 20th October 2011, 2:30PM BST.
An image from the master’s radar screen on Condor Vitesse, which was travelling at 37.1 knots (top right), showing the blip of the French potter, Les Marquises, which French investigators said would have been visible to him for 47 seconds before disappearing into the clutter at the bottom of the screen.
An image from the master’s radar screen on Condor Vitesse, which was travelling at 37.1 knots (top right), showing the blip of the French potter, Les Marquises, which French investigators said would have been visible to him for 47 seconds before disappearing into the clutter at the bottom of the screen.
A FRENCH fisherman ‘recoiled’ when he saw Condor Vitesse suddenly emerge from thick fog seconds before it smashed into his vessel, hurling him into the sea.
The account comes from one of the two surviving deckhands who were aboard the fishing vessel Les Marquises, which was split in half when hit by the high-speed ferry on 28 March. The skipper of the French boat, Philippe Lesaulnier, was killed.
The report concluded that there were five main factors – each one placed into different categories – that caused the accident:
- Weather conditions were the first causal factor
- The lack of attention from officers on the Vitesse bridge was the second casual factor
- The lack of a continuous radar lookout during Les Marquises’ fishing operation was an underlying factor
- The decision to turn off the Vitesse’s fog horn was a contributing factor
- The speed at which the Vitesse was travelling (36.9 knots) was too fast and an underlying factor of the collision and an aggravating factor of the consequences of the impact
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