- A year after the Kommetjie submarine tragedy, where three SA Navy submariners lost their lives, a Board of Inquiry has recommended safety upgrades.
- These include stronger harnesses, modernized life jackets, and headgear to prevent future accidents during naval exercises.
- The SA Navy honors the submariners as heroes and acknowledges that the freak wave could not have been foreseen or avoided.
A year after a tragic incident near Kommetjie, which claimed the lives of three SA Navy submariners, a Board of Inquiry has recommended additional safety measures after concluding that the submarine was at the right place at the wrong time.
On Wednesday 20 September last year, Lieutenant Commander Gillian Elizabeth Hector, Warrant Officer Class One Mmokwapa Lucas Mojela and Master Warrant Officer William Masela Mathipa tragically died when a freak wave swept them off a submarine near Kommetjie (“Submariners honoured” People’s Post 3 October 2023).
On Friday 6 September, SA Navy Chief Vice Admiral Monde Lobese released the findings of the inquiry.
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According to Lobese, the submariners tragically lost their lives when they were swept multiple times by high seas following a vertical transfer exercise involving a South African Air Force (SAAF) Maritime Lynx helicopter and the SA Navy’s submarine SAS MANTHATISI.
“The vertical transfer exercise was approved by the Officer Commanding (OC’s) of the submarine and helicopter,” reads the statement. “However, the exercise could not be finalised because the parties were not able to get the two members on the casing.”
Freak waves
The exercise was thus called off by both parties and the members hoisted back into the helicopter when sea conditions changed abruptly.
“Just as everyone was about to get back into the submarine, the sea conditions changed abruptly, resulting in unexpected freak waves.”
The submariner, who was attached to the safety line, was swept into the ocean while Lieutenant Commander Gillian Elizabeth Hector bumped her head against the submarine’s hull, rendering her unconscious.
“With the assistance of the safety swimmer, everyone managed to get back onto the casing. The XO (Hector) was resuscitated and started to breathe.”
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At this stage, the submariners were fine when another wave struck the vessel, Lobese explained.
“WO Mathipa and Mojela unclipped their safety lines to go back into the submarine. Just as they proceeded back to the submarine, another freak wave washed them overboard.”
The severity and force of the freak waves, the foul weather gear that becomes heavy when wet, and the movement of the boat pushing the members to and fro in the cold sea conditions took its toll on the sailors and drained their energy to such an extent that they could only float and wait to be rescued.
“Even if all of the lessons learnt had been implemented and all corrective actions had been done prior to this evolution, there is simply no way to ensure that the outcome would have been different due to the aforementioned negative circumstances.”
Heroes
Lobese lauded all the sailors on board the submarine that day as heroes.
“The SA Navy is a highly professional organisation and has operated submarines over many years and conducted these evolutions many times with great success,” he said. “Our submariners are highly trained and we have full confidence in the entire crew, especially our departed heroes and heroine’s qualifications and know-how of what was expected of them.
“It was just the submarine was at the right place at the wrong time when Mother Nature had the final word.”
Safety measures recommended are stronger safety harnesses that can carry more than one person at a time, improved and modernised life jackets as well as safety headgear and a Man over Board locator beacon.
“We have realised that the safety line is not conducive to carry a lot of members at the same time,” said Lobese. “The line to the safety harness was too long.”
Life jackets have been modernised and improved to handle 270 kg (with foul weather gear) and survive rough sea conditions instead of the standard jackets of up to 120 kg.
“Since the doctrine never required the casing party to wear safety headgear, this requirement is now included as part of the gear once you step on the casing,” said Lobese.
