A report was made to Brixham Coastguard. A flight refuelling Falcon aircraft taking part in the same military exercises as the helicopter also observed the incident and reported the sighting to Plymouth military air traffic control, which relayed the message to the Brixham Coastguard.

Subsequent investigation showed that it was possible that a metal insert may not have been properly fitted, allowing the inadvertent discharge of oily water overboard which went unobserved from the bridge of MSC Ariane.

The Court noted the cooperation of the ship's managers, who had instigated their own detailed investigation and as a result had made alterations to the ship's pipelines so as to prevent a re-occurrence in future.