What is the Casualty Investigation Code, and what are the preliminary inquiry and the marine safety investigation in India?

flowchart LR
  A["Marine casualty"] --> B["Notice within twenty-four hours (s.231(2))"]
  B --> C["Preliminary inquiry by the appointed officer (s.231(3), (4))"]
  C --> D["Marine safety investigation by an appointed body: causes only (s.231(5), (6))"]
  D --> E["Report to the Central Government and IMO"]
  C --> F["Incompetency or misconduct: separate action and proceedings (s.232)"]

• Code: the Casualty Investigation Code (MSC.255(84)), mandatory under SOLAS XI-1/6, rooted in SOLAS I/21: no report may fix or imply responsibility.
• Philosophy (§1.2): find causal factors to prevent recurrence, separate from civil, criminal or administrative proceedings; flag State duty, coastal State right (§1.3).
• Machinery: a very serious casualty (total loss, death, severe pollution) shall be investigated (§6.1); substantially interested States (§7); impartial investigators (§11.1); report to IMO and the public (§14).
• India (MS Act 2025 Part XI): notice within twenty-four hours (s.231(2)); the appointed officer’s preliminary inquiry (s.231(3), (4)); a marine safety investigation by an appointed body (s.231(5), (6)).
• Trap: the formal investigation before a court was the repealed MS Act 1958; the 2025 Act’s second tier is the no-blame marine safety investigation; misconduct goes separately under s.232.
• As Chief Engineer: give the notice, preserve the machinery-space evidence unaltered (record books, logs, alarm history, VDR data, failed parts), give a factual account.