JOHOR BARU: Human negligence could be a factor investigators would look into in the collision between a United States navy warship and merchant tanker near Johor waters, said a marine technology expert.
University Teknologi Malaysia's (UTM) Marine Technology Centre director, Prof Dr Ab Saman Abd Kader said many factors needed to considered to determine the cause of the collision.
He said based on what was known about the accident, there could be four contributing factors that investigators would need to probe before reaching any conclusion.
Ab Saman said these aspects were the geographical landscape of the area of the accident, mother nature, sea-worthiness of the ship and human factor.
"When it comes to the human factor, we have to look at the qualifications of the people who were responsible for the vessel at the time, their history in training and retraining as well as their attitudes, emotions or level of fatigue, among other things.
"Many people will be of the opinion that a US war ship would normally be technologically advanced in terms of equipment.
"But there is possibility that this accident may have been due to other factors such as negligence.
"In any situation, the crew of a ship must comply to standard operationg procedures (SOPs), and this will be among the things that will be probed," said Ab Saman, who is director of UTM's Marine Technology Centre.
He was commenting on the collision between United States navy guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain and Liberian-registered oil tanker Alnic MC east of Singapore at 5.24am yesterday.
Ten sailors remain missing, while another five sailors were injured in the collision, which was the second accident involving a US navy ship in Asian waters within three months.
Ab Saman said the seas off Pengerang in southeast Johor was known for being one of the world's busiest and a narrow waterway.
"Each ship needs a vast area to steer forward. But to go through a restricted area of the sea requires carefulness about aspects such as speed.
"Vessels need to fully comply to Collision Regulations (Colreg) to prevent any form of collision at sea," he said.
Ab Saman said the vessel's owner and Malaysian authorities such as the Marine Department could be called in the process of investigations as the latter is responsible for keeping a safe passageway for ships.