Exam Question

### (a) Applicable Regulations for Mandatory Casualty Investigation
Under international maritime law, it is a mandatory obligation for a flag state administration to conduct an investigation into any casualty occurring to a ship flying its flag. The primary regulations stipulating this requirement are:
* **SOLAS 74, Regulation I/21 (Casualties)**: This regulation requires each Administration to conduct investigations into any casualty occurring to any of its ships subject to the provisions of the SOLAS Convention, when it judges that such an investigation may assist in determining what changes in the present regulations might be desirable.
* **MARPOL 73/78, Article 8 (Reports on incidents involving harmful substances)**: This article mandates that a Party to the Convention shall report to the Organization (IMO) on incidents involving harmful substances. This implicitly requires an investigation to understand the cause and circumstances of the incident.