northwest of Wellington. At 5:37 PM, travelling at , Mikhail Lermontov struck rocks about below the waterline on its port side. By 8:30 pm, passengers began to abandon ship, with the aid of the crew and local rescue vessels. The passengers were transferred to several ships in the area, including the LPG tanker (Captain Reedman) and the SeaRail road-rail ferry (Capt John Brew). As darkness set in MS Mikhail Lermontov listed further to starboard. Within 20 minutes of the last passenger being rescued, the ship had disappeared completely, sinking at approximately 10:27 PM, 4 hours and 50 minutes after running aground. The sinking resulted in only one casualty, 33-year-old crew engineer Pavel Zagladimov, who went down with the ship. The coroner's report lists his official cause of death as 'unknown', as his remains were never found. Eleven of those rescued had minor injuries. Wreck MS Mikhail Lermontov rests where it sank, lying on its starboard side in depths reaching up to a maximum of about . It is popular with scuba divers and the site is served by local dive shops in Picton and Kaikoura. It is also one of the biggest, easily accessible, diveable ship wrecks in the world. The dives range from an easy depth at the top of the wreck, through to deep penetration and decompression dives to depths of . It is possible to enter the wreck, especially in the open public areas accessible from the port side windows near the top of the wreck, although care must be taken and guides familiar with the wreck are highly recommended, especially for enclosed overhead environments and where entanglement hazards may exist. Closed circuit diving is recommended to avoid causing reduced visibility when entering enclosed areas such as restaurants, crew messes, and shopping arcades. Three divers are known to have died while exploring the ship, including one diver whose body is still possibly trapped inside. Cause as established by New Zealand inquiry The New Zealand preliminary inquiry report found that; "at the time of the grounding the ship's courses and speeds were being directed by Captain D.I. Jamison in the employ of the Marlborough Harbour Board as Harbourmaster and chief pilot." "The decision to direct the ship through the channel was made by Captain Jamison without consulting any other person at the time the ship was in position Lat 41˚ 01' 04" S Long 174 19' 30" E."