US Navy ship runs aground after map mistake
A minesweeper which ran aground on a coral reef in the Philippines was using a faulty map that misplaced the location of the marine sanctuary, the US Navy has said.
All 79 officers and crew of the USS Guardian have left the ship but the Navy’s Pacific Fleet said its ships and several support vessels are continuing to carry out salvage operations to minimise environmental effects to the reef.
The Navy said digital nautical charts contained inaccurate data and may have been a factor in the Guardian’s grounding. Navigator of the Navy Rear Admiral Jonathan White released precautionary guidance to all Pacific Fleet ships, saying that “initial review of navigation data indicates an error in the location of Tubbataha Reef” in the Philippines.
