BEAmer report into sinking of 'Yogi' fails to identify cause of water ingress

The Bureau d’enquêtes sur les évènements de mer (BEAmer) has published the report of its safety investigation into the foundering of M/Y Yogi, which sank off the coast of Skyros on 17 February 2012.

The report lists 10 points in its analysis of the causes of the sinking, citing six contributing factors, although a footnote asserts “the first cause of the aft flooding of the three aft compartments remains uncertain.” What the report does conclude is that the “French administration [was] not present itself during the stability test”, whilst the reported failure to record major stern door disassembly works “in accordance with the company ISM system” is also highlighted, as is the possible “late” or “failing” alarm. The summary adds that weather conditions “[did] not [require] slowing down”.

From the conclusions drawn, the report issues a series of recommendations covering four areas: owners of yachts in commercial use, naval architects and builders, the flag administration, and classification societies.

Owners are told to implement ISO 90001 working standards for all parties involved with the construction of a vessel, and to inform the classification society of any modifications made to the vessel.



The recommendation to builders is somewhat normative, imploring them to “free themselves from the standards of aesthetic that could impair the safety of the crew”.

The flag state is asked to consider introducing further load line and stability study requirements, and “to make it compulsory…to have a VDR on board vessels over 500GT.

Finally, the recommendation to class societies is that they inform the flag states immediately of any modifications that could lead to a revision of existing safety certificates.



Upon the publication of the report, SuperyachtNews.com spoke to Mehmet Karabeyoglu, managing director of Yogi’s builder, Proteksan Turquoise.  Karabeyoglu expressed his disappointment with the purpose of the report, which he found to be overly speculative and lacking any form of definitive conclusion into why Yogi sank.

“The report fails to add any constructive value [to the situation] because it focuses on criticising general rules and design issues that the whole world builds to. It’s an extremely strange situation because the yacht sits at the bottom of the sea, but at no point do they identify where the water came in from.

“Whilst it is important to talk about flag or stability issues, everything that is written is academic. At no point does the report state how water got into the beach club, why the door between the beach club and the secondary beach club was open, and how on earth water got into the lower steering compartment. These are the key points and they haven't been answered.”

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Proteksan Turquoise Yachts Inc.

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