The owner and insurer of the leaking bulker Solomon Trader have denied crew were absent or drunk when it grounded on a Solomon Islands reef last month.
Korea Protection and Indemnity Club and Hong Kong owner King Trader issued a statement expressing "deep remorse" for the incident involving the 74,000-dwt ship (built 1994).
Even though matters of liability are yet to be determined, they added that the situation that had arisen since 5 February was “totally unacceptable”.
