Vanuatu authorities seek charges over deadly MV Matui sinking
The Vanuatu Maritime Safety Authority (VMSA) is seeking criminal charges against the captain and owners of the MV Matui.
The VMSA is accusing the owners of Tui Shipping Agency, a company that has reportedly been deregistered since June, of negligence causing deaths of at least two passengers, with the final toll likely to be far more.
Dozens of people remain missing after the inter-island ferry sank off the coast of Vanuatu last Friday.
Vanuatu’s Maritime Affairs commissioner Less John Napuati told RNZ Pacific that the authority had never given permission for the vessel to carry passengers.
Napuati said the vessel was only permitted to carry cargo, adding that the MV Matui was issued a specific warning about personnel overflow on 10 September.
“Someone has to be held responsible, and they were saying that it’s VMSA that is responsible … we have to come out and clear our name,” he said.
“We issued the appropriate certificate. It’s the owner or the master of the vessel that are not complying with the certificate.”
The latest casualty estimate for the disaster puts the confirmed death toll at two, though over 30 people are still missing after five days of search and rescue operations.
“It’s obvious they caused the death of passengers now,” Napuati said.
“So they have to be responsible, held accountable under Section 108 of the Penal Code, and there is also non-compliance of the Shipping Act,” noting that it ought to carry prison time for the captain.
It came as Vanuatu Daily Post reported that Tui Shipping Agency had been deregistered as a legal business since 2 June of this year. The company had registered with the Vanuatu Financial Services Commission in March 2024, but had failed to file an annual renewal.
When RNZ Pacific called the company’s publicly listed numbers, it found they were each deactivated.
Napuati said he was unaware of this and that it would have been the responsibility of Vanuatu Customs and Inland Revenue (VCIR) to notify his office.
He also said authorisation to carry cargo had been active for the Matui “from 2023 or 2024”.
“That’s the business side of it, so it’s under the jurisdiction of Customs.”
The Ministry of the Prime Minister said in a statement on Wednesday that an independent investigation into the MV Matui disaster “will be instigated shortly.”
The office “strongly appeals to all families of the victims not to seek revenge or take action outside of the law”.
“Let us not create another tragedy on top of this disaster.”
VCIR have been approached for comment.
