§ Mr. Prescottasked the Secretary of State for Trade what inquiry was conducted by his Department into the grounding in 1979 of the oil tanker "Christos Bitas"; and what conclusions were reached and acted upon.
§ Mr. SproatThe Greek tanker "Christos Bitas" grounded off the coast of South Wales on 12 October 1978. A full account of the action taken by the Department of Trade to deal with the casualty and combat oil pollution was subsequently published in the Department's report " 'Christos Bitas'—the fight at sea against pollution".
Responsibility for the conduct of shipping casualty inquiries rests primarily with flag States. Accordingly, the Greek authorities commenced a public inquiry into the grounding of the "Christos Bitas" in Piraeus on 13 February 1979 and the United Kingdom participated in that inquiry.
The Greek investigating court gave its judgment on 24 September 1979 in a published report. A copy of the report was sent to the Department of Trade and a translation was made available to interested parties. A copy of the report and also the account " 'Christos Bitas' —the fight against pollution" were placed in the Library in November 1980