Maltese-registered ship bailed out of French harbour

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Maltese-registered ship bailed out of French harbour
By Ruth Davies
Jan 22, 2006, 17:39

A Maltese-registered, Sichem Pandora suspected of being involved in a collision with a trawler off the coast of Alderney has been given the all-clear to leave Dunkirk, France. However it will not be able to leave the French Harbour before the end of this week since investigations are ongoing. Lm 642,094 (1.5m euros) was paid as bail for its release to take place. Earlier this month the chemical carrier was impounded and its captain was detained for questioning after it was suspected that Sichem Pandora had been involved in a collision with another ship which left five people unaccounted for. It is thought that the five of the fishermen aboard the Kliene Familie died after the vessel sunk.

The French Marine Accident Investigations office stated that paint traces found on the hull of Sichem Pandora belonged to Kleine Familie. Sichem Pandora was in the area where Kleine Familie trawler sank on the 5th January 2006, an area near the Alderney coast located between France and the United Kingdom. Only one out of the six members of crew was rescued. Five are still unaccounted for. Searches for the missing fishermen proved futile.

The crew of the Sichem Pandora is insisting that it was not aware that a collision had taken place at the time of the incident.

The Malta Independent reported that Maltese investigators inspected the scene of collision earlier last week. Since the law states that collisions taking place in international waters are to be investigated by the country of registration of the ship, Malta and France will be handling the investigations. In such a case, the Maltese law proposes penalties identical to those of France, hence four years in prison for involuntary homicide.

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