St Helen, the ferry at the center of a large local and national news story following the collapse of its mezzanine deck, has returned to service this morning (Friday).
Wightlink’s 30-year-old vessel was pulled from service a week ago today after 4 persons were injured when a cable supporting the mezzanine deck snapped, dropping the suspended deck, vehicles and passengers some 2 metres onto the main car deck.
Today, the cross-Solent operator returned St Helen to the Portsmouth-Fishbourne route following approval from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Maritime Accident Investigation Branch, however it has been confirmed that the mezzanine decks will not be used.
Wightlink’s Chief Operating Officer, John Burrows, said:
“All of our ships undergo regular, planned maintenance and, even though St Helen’s mezzanine deck is of a different design to our other vessels, we have taken the precaution of having all our mezzanine decks independently inspected and we will continue to check them daily”.
