The captain and first officer of the Wakashio newcatlemax grounded on a coral reef off Mauritius final yr within the worst environmental catastrophe within the island nation’s latest historical past have pleaded responsible to endangering secure navigation.
The captain, Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar, and the primary officer, Subodha Tilakaratna, entered their pleas on Monday in a listening to on the Intermediate Courtroom within the capital, Port Louis. Nandeshwar admitted to ingesting throughout a celebration on the ship when it ran aground in July 2020.
The costs — for conduct “more likely to endanger the secure navigation of the ship or to trigger interference or annoyance to the opposite individuals on board” — are among the many lightest prison ones underneath Mauritian regulation. The offences carry a superb of $1,140, or a most jail sentence of two years.