The captain of a high-speed catamaran, which collided with a Tallinn pier on Sunday was under the influence of alcohol, according to the director of the company that owns the boat.
On Sunday evening, the Sunlines high-speed catamaran VEGTIND collided with a pier in Patarei Harbor while traveling to Tallinn from the island of Aegna. None of the passengers onboard were injured.
According to Kaspar Eisel, director of Spinnaker OÜ, which owns the catamaran, it had initially been thought the collision happened due to a technical malfunction, as the usual mooring procedure failed. The captain put the boat in reverse, but instead, it continued to move forward.
“We now know that the captain made a mistake and activated the wrong setting – a function was activated that keeps the ship’s propeller in a position that only allows forward movement. As a result, the ship could not be stopped in reverse and, instead of the planned mooring, a collision with the pier unfortunately occurred,” Eisel explained.
According to Eiseli, it became clear afterwards that the captain was intoxicated at the time the accident took place.
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