CAUSE FOR "NAUTICA'S" SHIPWRECK STILL NOT ESTABLISHED - COMMISSION

SPLIT, Jan 9 (Hina) - A commission of enquiry at the Croatian Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications has still not established the cause of the wreck of Croatian ship Nautica which turned over 30 miles from Ancona four days ago. In the shipwreck three seamen lost their lives, one was saved and one is still missing. Chief maritime inspector and commission chairman Mario Babic said the wreck was most probably caused by an act of God and the human factor in liaison. According to a testimony by the one survived seaman, Genij Vukovic, at the time the ship capsized the waves in the Adriatic were as high as 2.5 metres and water began to seep in to the stern. He also described the ship's stability as questionable, considering the imbalance of its cargo (the ship was carrying stone slates), which could account for the accident. So far the commission of enquiry has indisputably established that the ship, at the moment of the wreck, had been more than 20 miles from the coast and Nautica had only been issued a license for long- the-coast sailing, meaning only up to 20 miles from the coast or an island shore. The ship, on the contrary, left for Ancona by the open sea. The commission has had trouble with dual information about the ship's cargo. The Harbour Master's Office in Split was told 155 tonnes of slates had been loaded onto the vessel, while the customs declaration and cargo documents said it was 165 tonnes. This data, a very important factor for the ship's stability, will be clarified by the commission within days. Nautica, Babic said, is currently 24 miles north-west from the accident location and continues to float. (hina) lml