Top surveyors say the reported water ingress in the No 1 and No 2 holds alone is unlikely to have been a direct cause of the loss as -- loaded with a full cargo of coal -- the vessel would not have been able to take on enough water to become destabilised.

The cargo has been a key factor in the investigation but surveyors are stressing the Christopher tragedy should be viewed separately from that of the Japanese capesize Kamikawa Maru (built 1987), which was lost in similar circumstances but with a cargo of iron ore.

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