Investigation into Fire on M/V SSG CARTER Released

The U.S. Coast Guard released the Marine Casualty Investigation into the fatal engineroom fire on board the SSG EDWARD A. CARTER JR on July 14, 2001. Two mariners died during the fire. The primary cause was determined to be human error on the part of the Second Assistant Engineer in failing to monitor the transfer of heavy fuel oil from the overflow tanks to the settling tank. The resulting spill was ignited by an undetermined source. A significant contributing factor was the failed operation of the ship's fixed CO2 firefighting system.