…Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned. A man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company. –Samuel Johnson

IN the spring months of 2012, three foreign sailors would be killed on the Japanese-owned Sage Sagittarius.

Two of those — both Filipino — would die as the ship passed into Australian waters, en route to Newcastle to pick up coal bound for Japan.

When a third man was killed, this time a Japanese safety superintendent, the ship was labelled “the death or murder ship” by the International Transport Workers’ Federation.

In the 21 months since, the three incidents have dragged four countries into the fray creating at least five separate investigations.

The findings are conflicting and only one of the reports has been released publicly.

Australian journalist Owen Jacques wades through the murkiness still surrounding these deaths at sea.

IN THE next week alone, 226 bulk carriers will visit Central Queensland ports between Bundaberg and Abbot Point north of Mackay, including terminals at Gladstone, Port Alma and Hay Point.

As of last week the Sage Sagittarius was one of the many heading north, 80km off Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

Each of the 22 or so mostly Filipino seafarers on these ships work inside a complicated machine beyond the carriers they crew.

The Philippine Government takes little interest in its booming seaborne population — up to 280,000 worldwide — as international waters remain one of the few lawless places on earth.

The Japanese-owned Sagittarius is registered in Panama, meaning under international law, Panama must investigate any incidents on board.

As a “flag of convenience state”, Panama is a haven for shipping giants that entices with a quiet promise of lax scrutiny.

It took more than four months after the first death for Panama to start investigating.

Even then, Sagittarius owners NYK Line and managers Hachiuma Steamship blocked access to possible witnesses who it claimed were “already on vacation”.

Coastal Australians traditionally count bulk carriers that dot the horizon.

The lives of those on board go unseen and unnoticed. Their deaths can too.

FIRST DEATH: The vanishing cook

Chief cook Cesar Llanto, 42, disappeared overboard on August 30, 2012 as the Sagittarius rumbled beneath overcast skies 800km north-west of Cairns.

The Panama Maritime Authority dismissed notions of suicide or an accidental fall as the chief cook was supporting a family with decades of experience.

It offered no explanation for how or why he vanished.

A crewman at the time has told authorities the chief cook planned to confront the ship’s captain that morning, accusing his superior of physically abusing a lower-ranked crewman.

The story from management and Panama is that the captain and chief officer noticed the cook was gone when their breakfast didn’t arrive at 8.30am.

A two-day search led by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and involving nine other bulk carriers was fruitless.

Cleared to restart its journey south, the company dispatched two security guards by helicopter to “soothe the crew”.

Philippine Consul-General in Australia Alan Grummit knew nothing of the cook’s death until contacted by APN earlier this year.

Australian Federal Police ordered the ship to Port Kembla where authorities interviewed the crew.

On September 9, it left Kembla bound for Newcastle.

SECOND DEATH: The fallen engineer

On September 14 as the ship entered the Port of Newcastle, chief engineer Hector Collado, 55, fell 10.4m in the engine room to his death having spent 30 years in the industry.

He died just four hours before he was to fly home to the Philippines.

The engineer was neither tired, nor affected by drugs or alcohol.

The Panama report found:

“He can’t be [sic] fall easily off the railing as he is much [sic] familiar to the engine room since he was working (for) the vessel MV Sage Sagittarius for the three contracts”.

In seafarer terms, a contract is a nine-month stint.

The Panama report suggested a heart attack could have been the cause of death.

But with the engineer dead in an Australian port, AMSA was able to board and examine the scene in a way it couldn’t with the cook.

Its findings did not explain why the engineer fell but found he died from head injuries not a heart attack.

New South Wales Police began investigating.

THIRD DEATH: Crushed in Japan

The entire crew including the captain was sent home after the two deaths.

It would be a fresh start as the ship left Newcastle on September 19.

Japanese safety superintendent Kosaku Monji, 37, joined the ship to protect the crew but within weeks he too would be killed.

Between 3am and 4am on October 6 — the third day in a southern Japanese port — Mr Monji was crushed to death by conveyor belt machinery, seemingly as he attempted to oil faulty parts.

A “leg protruding” from the machinery was found shortly before 7.30am.

A report by the Japanese Transport Safety Board found he had broken the rules by oiling a faulty part instead of replacing it, which led to him being pulled between the mechanisms.

In its lightweight six-page report, it took only a cursory look at his death.

It suggested the new crew were too inexperienced to help with repairs but it did not consider the causes of the problem.

WHEN AND WHERE

AUGUST 30, 2012 (Day of first death)
● Filipino chief cook Cesar Llanto, 42, vanished overboard 800km north-west of Cairns.
● Crew members claim he was reporting abuse suffered by a fellow seafarer. Investigators found no way he could fall overboard. Ship diverted to Port Kembla for investigation.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2012 (Two days after first death)
● Two security guards from Brisbane board the ship.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012 (15 days after first death)
● Filipino chief engineer Hector Collado, 57, falls more than 10m to his death while the ship was docked at the Port of Newcastle.

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012 (19 days after first death)
● Entire crew aboard Sagittarius replaced.
●Japanese safety superintendent Kosaku Monji, 37, joins ship to ensure crew protection.

OCTOBER 6, 2012 (37 days after first death)
● Monji, 37, crushed to death by conveyor belt machinery in Japan

JANUARY 5, 2013 (128 days after first death)
● Panama Maritime Authority begins investigation.

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 (One year, 20 days after first death)
● Panama publishes confidential report into three deaths.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013 (One year, 28 days after first death)
● Japanese Transport Safety Board publishes report into Mr Monji’s death.

JUNE 16, 2014 (One year, 9 months, 17 days after first death)
● New South Wales Coroner to consider an inquest into Mr Llanto and Mr Collado’s deaths in Australian waters.

THE VIEW FROM ABOVE

JAPANESE owners of the Sage Sagittarius say there is no reason to be suspicious about the three deaths aboard the ship in late 2012 despite conceding it still has “no idea how they occurred”.

Speaking on behalf of owners NYK Line and managers Hachiuma Steamship, Naoya Miyasaka said the company cooperated with all investigations, whether in Australia, Japan or Panama.

It also conducted its own internal examination, but he said the findings would not be made public.

Mr Miyasaka did not answer questions on why a Panama investigator was not given access to interview its former crew.

He said despite its full cooperation with all investigations, there were no answers.

“We have no idea as to how they occurred as there were no eye witness accounts of either event.”