THE MV Suilven was fit to sail when the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji (MSAF) inspected the ship in August.

MSAF Acting CEO John Tunidau confirmed this saying his office carried out a periodic survey every six months.

“Ships that are issued with a survey certificate from MSAF are fit to sail,” Mr Tunidau said, in response to information put to him that some of the ship’s crew had noted the vessel had been leaking two weeks before the mishap.

Meanwhile, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry permanent secretary Francis Kean said they would continue to monitor the sunken ship.

Mariners are advised to proceed with caution when navigating within the vicinity of the entrance to Suva Harbour and to be on the lookout for any floating containers since the ship went down with 25 reefer containers and a few trucks.

In a notice sent by Mr Kean, he stated the RORO (roll-on roll-off) ship sank at the entrance of Suva Harbour at the co-ordinates of 18 degrees 08.433’S and 178 degrees 23.69’E.

At the time of the accident, the ship was carrying 30 crew members and four passengers, who were truck drivers, but all were saved.

Built by Moss Rosenberg of Norway, the ship was built as a ferry vessel in 1974 and was operated for 21 years by a shipping company known as Caledonian MacBrayne in the United Kingdom before subsequently operating in New Zealand and later in Fiji.