Remember the Italian captain that wanted to wave at people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Concordia_disaster#Situa...

There should be serious jail time for the owner or captain of the ship if it's caused by the slightest neglect.

Sounds like a similar case as the Costa Concordia than.

This article mentions the wifi reason.

https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/accusations-emerg...

Shouldn't be surprising in retrospect. Nobody enjoys losing a tanker. When one is lost, it's because someone made a terrible mistake. The only mystery is which specific mistake.

I can't view the Japanese link but the French article mentions nothing about connecting to the internet, or "WI-FI". Wouldn't a ship have satellite internet?

The Mauritian article says:

"Before the "Wakashio" ran aground on the reef at Pointe-d'Esny on the evening of July 25, the crew was celebrating the birthday of one of its members. This was reported by three crew members of the bulk carrier to Central Criminal Investigation Department (CCID) investigators.

They also stated that the bulk carrier had approached the island to pick up a wi-fi connection. Seven others made the same statement to investigators from Mauritius Shipping. These seamen initially made a history of their voyage which started in China to Australia and then another route from China, with a stopover in Singapore, before heading for Brazil.

It was on this route that the bulk carrier crossed the territorial waters of Mauritius. The crew of about 20 consists of three Indian nationals, sixteen Filipinos and one Sri Lankan. The "Wakashio" was under the responsibility of Captain Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar, a 58-year-old Indian national. They are represented by Mr. Kushal Lobine and Mr. Irsaad Munsoor, lawyers for the insurers of the Protection and Indemnity Club."

They almost certainly mean cellular connection, not wifi. Apparently it is quite common for ships to get closer to shore for this reason. All crew members have cellphones; satellite internet connectivity on the other hand is vastly more expensive and access among crew is limited for that reason (and even then typically justifiable only for business purposes).

"Ils ont également déclaré que le vraquier s’était rapproché de l’île pour capter une connexion wifi"

They also declared the ship got closer to the island to get a WiFi connection.

(Maybe the article got updated)

I can confirm that the Japanese article does indeed say that the ship went closer to land so that it could connect to Wi-Fi. Not sure how common satellite internet is on ships of this kind.

> Not sure how common satellite internet is on ships of this kind.

My best guess:

Satellite internet on ships is common but still slow and expensive these days.

Background:

- ar one point I worked for three years as a system engineer with a company in the maritime radio and radar business

- even further back I have also interviewed with another that was specifically in the business of connecting ships to Internet.

Good satellite internet is very expensive, the oil tanker probably had a cheap slow plan.

Starlink can't come soon enough.