Marco Fishing, the owner of the MFV Meob Bay which sunk with the loss of 19 lives near Luederitz on June 7 2002, issued the press release on Thursday in reaction to the Court of Marine Enquiry judgement on Monday.

The court found that the skipper of the ill-fated fishing vessel - and by extension also the company itself - could not be blamed for the death of 19 of the fishing boat's 28 crew members when she sank.

The MFV Meob Bay sank after a floating anchor rope became entangled in the ship's propeller and disabled the engine.

In a matter of seconds, the boat was at the mercy of a rough sea and started taking on water as a heavy swell washed over its stern.

Within about five minutes, the ship sank.

The court found that skipper Jacques de Kock and his crew had followed the correct procedures in abandoning the ship.

It also ruled that, although there was evidence that the crew had not received safety training at regular intervals as required by law, they nevertheless were properly trained and knew what to do in the sort of emergency that confronted them on June 7 2002.

Marco Fishing stated on Thursday: "With the reasons for the incident now beyond question, it is hoped that this, together with the passage of time, will ease the grief of the next of kin of the deceased crewmen.

The sense of relief that the skipper of the MFV Meob Bay at the time of the incident, Mr Jacques de Kock, must feel after being exonerated from any wrongdoing is likewise shared by the company.

"We trust and hope that the findings and recommendations flowing from the enquiry will ensure that Namibian waters will in future be kept free of hazards to seafarers and be safer to navigate."

The company also took the opportunity to remind critics of the accusations of responsibility for the tragedy - now in effect dismissed by the court - that were directed at Marco Fishing in the wake of the tragedy.

"We further trust and hope that the findings and recommendations of the Marine Court of Enquiry will make those government and union officials who so vociferously blamed the company for the incident realise that one should not allocate blame until one is in possession of all the facts. This is indeed what can be expected from all responsible persons."

The Court of Marine Enquiry was tasked with carrying out only a limited probe of the incident, focusing on questions whether the crew had been properly trained in safety measures, whether the ship was correctly abandoned, and whether De Kock could be blamed for the loss of life.

According to Marco Fishing, the narrow focus of the court's enquiry was inappropriate.

"It would have been more appropriate and in the public interest to have focused on the causes of the incident and the persons or entities responsible for causing the incident," it stated.

De Kock's lawyer, Rudi Cohrssen, had indeed asked the court to recommend that the owners and skipper of Lady S., a diamond mining vessel accused of having left the anchored rope in the sea, should be charged with contravening the Marine Traffic Act.

He also asked the court to recommend that Namport take disciplinary measures against its staff at Luederitz who, according to testimony heard by the court, had known since April 2002 about the presence of the anchored rope in the water but did not have it removed and also did not issue navigational warnings that could have prevented the accident.

The court did not grant Cohrssen's requests, however.

The closest it came was to recommend that the Minister of Works, Transport and Communication should alert the competent authorities about the possibility of such hazards, so that prompt steps could be taken to neutralise them.

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