On June 4 the court delivered its deliberations in the case of the sinking of the 'Breiz' off the coast of Port-en-Bessin, two months after the maritime court of Le Havre met from April 2 to 5, 2024. Among the defendants, the skipper of the SNSM boat of Ouistreham, Philippe Capdeville, who was tried for negligence and forgery in a ship's document. He was released. The court just accused him of negligence for an absence of alertness for 41 seconds when he did not respond to the 'Breiz'. This negligence did not cause the sinking of the ship and the death of the three sailors, ruled the court. He was also acquitted for the forgery. Philippe Capdeville did not wish to react at the end of the hearing. For his part, Bertrand Hudault, Channel North Sea general inspector at the SNSM, spoke of a relief for Philippe Capdeville after 3,5 years of pressure, and for all the SNSM volunteers: “We were all convinced that Philippe Capdeville had not made a mistake”. He also believes that this trial will “mark” a before and an after. This case questioned the “criminal liability of rescuers in intervention”. In particular, he requests a “mechanism to better legally protect SNSM volunteers”. An acquittal was also pronounced for the two officials of the DDTM (departmental directorate of territories and the Sea) and the maritime expert prosecuted for involuntary homicide. The court notably considered that there had been “no violation of a duty of care” on the part of the maritime expert, and that he “did not contribute to the realization of the danger”. Only the co-owner of the ship, François Leboucher – absent during the deliberations – was convicted. He received an 18-month suspended prison sentence. During a lengthy reasoning for its entire decision, the court explained that it considered that the co-owner was directly responsible for the facts. Particularly because he was aware of the non-compliant character of the crew. None of the sailors on board had the required diplomas, despite the exemption by Quentin Varin. The judges also mentioned the “non-compliance with the operating conditions of the ship”, in particular with the weight of the dredgers being far too much greater than they should be. He then failed to fulfill his “security obligation for which he must respond”. The prosecutor had requested a 12 -month suspended prison sentence and a two-year sailing ban against Philippe Capdeville, and a six months suspended prison sentence for the co-owner. The same sentence was required for the maritime expert who had submitted a report on the ship shortly before the tragedy. The magistrate also requested a penalty of €30,000 against his company. The prosecutor proposed a principle sentence for the two DDTM agents. The public prosecutor of Le Havre, Bruno Dieudonné, indicated that an appeal was “not excluded”. But that he had to “first analyze in more detail the motivation of the court”.
News
EUGEN MAERSK
On June 3, 2024, the 'Eugene Maersk', en route from Tanger Med to Algeciras, has rescued 32 migrants of Maghreb origin from a boat that the crew located about 60 nautical miles from Arrecife. Once the container ship had anchored near Naos port, the crew of the SAR biat 'Salvamar Al Nair' (MMSI: 224944850) embarked them and transferred the castaways to Arrecife. Report with photos: https://x.com/salvamentogob/status/1797700452588429498
PAXOS ISLAND
On the morningof Juen 3, 2024, the Port Authority of Corfu was informed by the Master of the 'Paxos Island', that during the disembarkation process the starboard side main engine could not be started. The ship was carrying out a scheduled route from the port of Corfu to the port of Gaio Paxos with 74 passengers on board. The Central Port Authority of Corfu banned the ship from sailing until the repair of the damage and the presentation of a certificate of class maintenance and seaworthiness by the monitoring classification society.
ARK PRESTIGE
On May 29, 2024, the Colombo Additional Magistrate Keminda Perera has issued a foreign travel ban to the Indian captain Raj Dev Yadev of the 'Ark Prestige', which caused an oil spill in Colombo. An investigation was started regarding a hydraulic oil leak from the ship, which was berthed at the dockyard jetty of Colombo Port, where the vessel had arrived for maintenance on April 20. The ban was to prevent him from leaving the country for one month. After considering a request made by the Colombo Port Police, the Magistrate who issued the ban on foreign travel has asked the police to forward the order to the Immigration Controller and inform the captain about the prohibition order. After considering the facts of the complaint, the Magistrate issued the relevant order to be effective for one month and ordered police to inform the court about the progress of the investigation.
TAMAHINE
On the morning of June 4, 2024, at 6.45 a.m. the 'Tamahine', while leaving port, ran aground with two crew members on board at Taiaroa Head, below the Royal Albatross Centre on Otago Peninsula. One of the two fishermen made his way onto the rocks, while the skipper stayed on the vessel. A rescue helicopter crew winched two members down on to the rocks who battled through the waves to reach the ship and assist the skipper back to the rocks, from where he and the deckhand were winched to safety. The skipper was taken to Dunedin Hospital in a moderate condition, and the other man was assessed and treated at the scene. The police alerted to the incident about 7.30 a.m. The ship was rapidly breaking up in the high swell and lying half-submerged in the sea. Safe navigation in and out of the harbour was not affected. No pollution was reported. The wreck was being monitored by the Dunedin Coastguard and regional council, but rough sea conditions had made it too dangerous to reach. The amount of fuel on board was unknown. Report with photo and video: https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/dramatic-sea-rescue-taiaroa-head