(1) Where any of the following casualties occur, that is to say—
(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;
(c) any damage caused by a ship; or
(d) any other maritime incident which the Minister may wish to consider under this section,
and, at the time of the occurrence, the ship was a Saint Lucian ship or the ship or ship's boat was in Saint Lucian waters the Minister may cause a preliminary inquiry into the casualty to be held by a person appointed for the purpose by the Minister.
(2) Whether or not a preliminary inquiry into the casualty has been held under subsection (1), the Minister may cause a formal investigation to be held by a Wreck Commissioner appointed under section 439.