(1) Where any of the following casualties occurs;

(a) the loss or presumed loss, stranding, grounding, abandonment of, or damage to, a ship;

(b) a loss of life caused by fire on board, or by any accident to a ship or ship's boat, or by any accident occurring on board a ship or ship's boat; or

(c) any damage caused to or by a ship, and, at the time of its occurrence, the ship was a Ghanaian ship or the ship or ship's boat was in Ghanaian waters, the Authority may cause a preliminary inquiry into the casualty to be held by a person appointed for the purpose by the Director-General.

(2) Whether or not a preliminary inquiry into the casualty has been held under subsection (1), the Authority may cause a formal investigation to be conducted by a Wreck Commissioner.