Navy death result of incompetence: parents

Stuff - 

The parents of a navy sailor killed when an inflatable boat flipped and trapped him underwater say his death was foreseeable and the result of incompetence.

Bill Solomon and Jayne Carkeek told an inquest into the death of their son, Able Seaman Byron Solomon, 22, following an incident aboard the navy ship HMNZS Canterbury, that safety risks which contributed to his death had happened before.

They also said the navy, and then-Defence Minister Phil Goff, should take responsibility for not inspecting the Canterbury thoroughly enough for safety before it was launched.

Solomon, 22, drowned when the inflatable boat capsized as it was being launched from Canterbury during a training exercise northeast of Cape Reinga on October 5, 2007.

A navy inquiry found a hook used to attach a rope from the inflatable to the ship was faulty and similar hooks were replaced throughout the navy.

Solomon and Carkeek both made statements about the death before Coroner Brandt Shortland today.

They both said that there had been similar rope failures before, aboard the HMNZS Wellington in 1998.

However, they said that not only had insufficient attention been paid to rectifying the problem, it had not even been formally identified as a hazard.

Solomon said that despite evidence presented yesterday which said there was a standard operating procedure (SOP) into how to deal with boat rope releases, a navy court of inquiry had found there was no specific SOP into an inflatable boat broach alongside and the subsequent trapping of personnel.

"Despite there having been numerous instances of a boat rope failure, one as recent as the previous day, no one formally identified such a failure or hazard," he said.

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