Weather conditions and "the human factor'' may have contributed to the sinking of a freighter in which 18 sailors lost their lives, it has been claimed.

A representative of Leoninus Shipping, who owned the ship, told The Royal Gazette yesterday he thought the Leader L , which went down 400 miles off Bermuda last week, could not have had structural problems because "if it had, it would not have been allowed to leave port''.

And the representative, who asked not to be named, continued: "In all the reports I've seen, it was never conveyed just how bad the weather was out there.

He said he also felt "the human factor'' might have been one of the causes of the accident, adding that the disaster could have possibly been averted if the 776-foot salt carrier had been turned into the weather.

But a senior Bermuda shipping official countered that the weather on that night, according to a report provided by the Bermuda Weather Service, was nothing out of the ordinary for the north Atlantic for this time of year.

The data showed winds of between 25 to 35 knots, and seas between 12 foot and 18 feet high. There was also heavy shower activity at the time.

Bermuda Registry of Shipping principal marine surveyor Captain Pat Nawaratne said: "Those weather conditions are not severe at all. Any vessel of that size is well designed to withstand much higher wind force and much larger waves.

"This sort of weather is quite common at this time of year in the north Atlantic.'' He added that the course of the vessel and the direction of the swell would not be detrimental, provided the ship was loaded properly and in good condition.

The Leoninus representative said the structural surveyors in ports can check a ship whenever they choose.

"Safety is their main concern,'' he said.

"They check hiding places that other people wouldn't normally look in,'' he continued. "If they find anything, no matter how small it is, then the ship would not be allowed to leave port.'' The representative said the Leader L had undoubtedly been checked before it left Alexandria in Egypt, on the first leg of her fateful trip.

He added: "The conditions out there weren't conveyed in the news reports either. The wind was gale force eight and there were ten metre waves.

"This was a 70,000 tonne ship. It wasn't paper. You don't play with the sea.

In the reports nobody talked about the wind and the waves.'' Today's edition of the shipping newspaper Lloyd's List reported that the Leader L had no structural deficiencies when inspected by the Panama flag state control authorities last year.

`Weather, human factor' may have caused sinking An annual safety inspection of the Panama-registered vessel by the authority last August revealed missing instruction manuals but no structural weakness, Fernando Solorzano, merchant fleet director with the country's Maritime Authority said.

A lawyer representing Panama authorities flew in to Bermuda last Saturday and is, along with lawyers representing other interested parties, investigating the sinking by interviewing the 13 survivors.

The sailors, who are staying at White Sands Hotel, are also negotiating compensation with the local branch of the International Transport Federation.

They are awaiting travel documents from their respective embassies and are expected to leave the Island this weekend.

The six bodies that were recovered by the Canadian Navy are being examined by pathologists and being kept in a refrigerated container at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

It is understood that this is because there is no more room in the mortuary, which can only take ten bodies.

Yesterday it emerged that the officers of the Leader L , including the captain, were still on the bridge when she sank.

A 39-year-old Romanian man was hospitalised over the weekend for a suspected leg fracture due to being sucked down by the ship after she was swallowed up by the waves and thrown up again.

The 13 survivors only escaped with their lives because they jumped out of lifeboats which were still attached to the ship when she sank.

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