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The French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien has called for the rogue
container ship which may have caused the death of five fishermen when
allegedly ramming a Breton trawler off the Cornish coast last week to
be rapidly traced and severely sanctioned.
Monsieur de Robien said in a radio interview: "We will scrutinise
every vessel which arrives in European ports and hopefully quickly discover
signs of damage on the aggressor.
"The vessel must be rapidly identified and penalised because what
the crew did was inadmissible. There is no way that they could have failed
to realise they collided with the trawler."
The Bugaled Breizh sank about 14 miles South West of the Lizard on Thursday
in what was described by the French as a high seas "hit and run".
The bodies of two crew members were recovered that day but three more
are still missing.
The French acted quickly and sent a remotely operated submarine to video
the wreck. They claim that video revealed the trawler had been rammed.
But a spokesman for Falmouth coastguard said the French investigators
would find it difficult, as no record is kept of shipping in that area.
"We do keep a record of vessels transiting the separation scheme
off Land's End, but that will not tell you what vessels were in the area
where the trawler sank," he said.
"If they know what vessel it is it can be arrested at its next port.
But it is not an easy task finding out."
At the Brittany port of Loctudy where the Bugaled Breizh was based, grief
turned to anger following yesterday's announcement by prosecutor Roland
Eisch.
He revealed that underwater naval pictures had showed massive damage
to the vessel's starboard bows which, he said, proved conclusively that
the fishing boat had been rammed by a large and powerful vessel, probably
a container ship.
The last words of the trawler mate were: "Come quickly. We are sinking."
Loctudy fishermen's leader Andr?? Le Berre called for "the criminals
who failed to heed a frantic distress call by the Bugaled Breizh before
she sank rapidly" to be brought to justice. French marine investigators
have begun an inquiry into "involuntary homicide caused by deliberately
neglecting safety rules".
If the French claims prove to be right, it will not be the first time
a fishing boat has been struck off the South West coast.
Elizabeth Stevenson, of Newlyn's W Stevenson and Sons, said that about
six years ago the beam trawler Anneliese was badly damaged by a large
vessel.
"She said: "We are still fighting for the cost of repairs.
The five crew on the Anneliese were fishing and tried to take avoiding
action but, when the fishing gear is out, the boats don't move as quickly
as they would like."
The trawler limped back to Newlyn with the crew unharmed but shaken.
And Newlyn harbourmaster Andrew Munson said Newlyn skipper Martin Jones
had once had to fire a red distress flare at the bridge of a container
vessel in a desperate attempt to get noticed.
"This problem has been going on for years," said Mr Munson.
Paul Trebilcock, chief executive of the Cornwall Fish Producers' Organisation,
said: "Close quarter incidents do happen from time to time and you
get them when there are question marks over the watchkeeper on some of
these bigger ships. This could just as easily have been one of our Cornish
boats and we are taking a keen interest in the investigation."
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