HC Deb 21 March 1986 vol 94 c315W
Mr. Waller

asked the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement about his Department's investigations into the loss of the MV Derbyshire in 1980.

Mr. Ridley

The Derbyshire was a large bulk carrier which disappeared in the Pacific Ocean in September 1980 with the loss of 44 lives. There were no survivors, no distress messages were received, and no wreckage was recovered whch gave any indication of the cause of the loss. The then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade announced at the time that in the absence of any material evidence about the cause of the loss of the vessel for formal investigation would serve no useful purpose, although he made clear that this decision could be reconsidered should any new and material evidence come to light.

During the following five years my Department, (and, prior to June 1983, the Department of Trade) commissioned extensive research into the structural design of the Derbyshire. It has also investigated reports of defects found in some of the sister ships to the Derbyshire and has interviewed representatives of the builders and the classification society. The results of all this work are summarised in a report, of which I have placed a copy in the Library. Copies are also being made available to the interested parties.

The report concludes that, while there is some circumstantial evidence which tends to suggest that massive structural failure may have been the cause of the loss of the vessel, this evidence is not in itself conclusive and the way in which the Derbyshire was lost is, and will almost certainly remain, a matter of speculation.

I have given careful consideration to requests from seafarers' representatives and from relatives of those lost on the Derbyshire that a formal investigation should now be held, even at this late stage. While I have every sympathy with those whose relatives were lost with the Derbyshire I have concluded that a formal investigation, conducted some five-and-a-half years after the loss of the vessel, is not likely to produce any significant additional evidence about the cause of her loss, beyond what is contained in the Department's report. I do not therefore propose to order one.