Ferry crash blamed on human error

Human error was the cause of the latest crash of a vessel from Sydney Ferries’ accident-prone fleet, a report by the NSW Office of Transport Safety Investigations has found.

No-one was injured when the RiverCat Betty Cuthbert slammed into a moored yacht and motor launch on January 11 this year after the master had earlier discovered a problem with the starboard propulsion unit.

In a report released today, the investigators said the master of the vessel had locked the Starboard propulsion unit into a centred position and was taking the vessel to a shipyard at Balmain when the accident occurred.