P. M. Briefing : Ship Firm Sued for Reef Damage
The U.S. government filed a $9-million suit today against the owners of a Yugoslavian freighter, charging the crew was careless and negligent when the ship ran aground on a coral reef in a national park.
The suit was filed a few hours before the 26-man crew appeared before a Coast Guard Board of Inquiry.
The suit alleges that the ship’s navigational devices were defective and that the crew “failed to take due account of wind, weather and current” when the ship ran aground Oct. 30 in the Ft. Jefferson National Monument.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Miami, names as defendants the ship, its owner, Atlantska Plovidba, which is based in the Adriatic city of Dubrovnik, and the ship’s master.
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