Ship ran aground after sailor 'recorded snoring'

The hull of the BBC Marmara was badly damaged when it ran aground

A cargo ship ran aground off the west coast of Scotland when a watchman fell asleep following a drinking session during a "makeshift wake".

The BBC Marmara's hull was damaged when it veered off course en-route to Scrabster in July 2021.

Its second officer was meant to be on watch duty, but was recorded "loudly snoring" on the bridge prior to impact.

An investigation criticised the vessel's "lack of management on every level" over the incident.

The ship, owned by German firm Briese Schiffahrt, was travelling from Foynes in Ireland when it hit the island of Eilean Trodday.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) found the officer, a 37-year-old Ukrainian national, had learned of the death of a crewmate's family member earlier that day.

He joined the able seaman and a cadet colleague in drinking beer and Jaegermeister between 20:30 and 23:30 on 24 July before taking over the watch.

'Joking around'

His colleagues arrived on the bridge after midnight with three further cans of beer given to them by the ship's master.

The trio were said to have engaged in a "lively conversation and joking around" before the other two left the officer alone by 01:00 that morning.

A planned course alteration was missed an hour later before the sound of snoring was picked up by the voyage data recorder.

An alarm had sounded 15 times before the route was changed, the report found.

A lookout who was meant to be on duty was later discovered not to have arrived for work.

The alert was activated again at 03:30 when a potential collision with the island was detected.

It struck the land two minutes later.

'Poor management'

MAIB investigators found the officer had been "dealing with personal stress due to marital and financial issues".

They said he was likely to have been "significantly influenced by the effects of the alcohol".

The report added a poor management culture had allowed "abuse of alcohol to be tolerated".

It is not know how much alcohol the officer had consumed.

The MAIB also found the vessel traffic management operator at Stornoway became distracted by another task because they had not received training and a navigation system had been "removed".

The ship was later refloated but an inspection found a hole in the bow thruster space and forepeak tanks.

Briese Schiffahrt has been contacted for comment.