SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Two active-duty Marines now stationed at Camp Pendleton who survived the deadly sinking of an amphibious assault vehicle that killed nine off the coast are suing the manufacturer, BAE Systems.
They say they are haunted by the horrific scenes they saw on the evening of July 30, 2020, while training on San Clemente Island, off the coast of South Orange County.
Marines Eduardo Alexis Leiva and Joshua Luis were on board Amphibious Assault Vehicle #12 on the evening of July 30, 2020, one of 14 AAVs that were on the routine training mission.
In their lawsuit, filed in federal court on July 21, numerous design flaws contributed to the sinking of the vehicle that evening. However, it was the poorly designed cargo doors that left the service members who were inside the AAV trapped, with no escape.
The lawsuit claims BAE knew that "sinking was imminent" in the vehicles.
Reads the lawsuit:
"The cargo hatch doors were defectively designed too heavy and narrow to allow the Marines and Sailor to escape as the vessel submerged, thereby trapping them, and causing them to descend with the vessel. The accumulation of water from the several leaks and the water which entered the vessel through the open cargo hatch completely overwhelmed the inadequate bilge pumps and caused the vessel to sink very quickly."
According to a statement that one of the surviving Marines gave to investigators shortly after the accident, seas were rougher than expected that evening.
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Waves, according to a redacted statement from one of the plaintiffs, began to come inside the AAV. The Marine said he ordered the others to close the vehicle's hatches.
"The waves were really smacking us at [that] point," read the statement. "I kept telling [them] to stay calm."
The Marine then went to the top of the ship and began waving the "November flag," a maritime distress call to the ship.
Meanwhile, the water continued to rise, the engine began making strange noises and the vehicle lost power. The Marine told the crew inside to evacuate the AAV. Just then, according to his statement, "a swell came over the vehicle...I got knocked off by a wave."
The wave pushed the other plaintiff of the newly filed lawsuit off the vehicle and flooded the inside of the AAV.
Meanwhile, one of the Marines now suing told the investigators, "We kept checking for other Marines but we didn't see anyone...At no point during this incident did I see the ship stop."
The visuals over the course of 45 minutes from that evening, says the new lawsuit, still haunts the two surviving Marines to this day.
The Marines, reads the lawsuit, "sustained physical and mental injuries while trapped inside the AAV with the other service members who perished and while escaping the sinking AAV."
CBS 8 reached out to BAE Systems.
“Our thoughts continue to be with the families who lost loved ones, and those who were injured in this terrible tragedy," reads a statement from a BAE spokesperson.
“Multiple government investigations by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps have reviewed this event, determined the facts and circumstances of what happened, and made recommendations on preventing future accidents like this. The findings of those investigations have consistently identified issues other than the vehicle design as causes.
“We continue to believe that BAE Systems does not bear any responsibility for this tragic accident. We are not in a position to otherwise comment on potential litigation.”
In 2021 a lawsuit filed by the family members of the eight Marines and one Sailor who died in the incident was dismissed.
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