B'BUGIA, Malta (13 July 2004) -- The captain and chief engineer of the container ship CMA CGM Verlaine were yesterday charged with the involuntary homicide of 40-year-old Dutch commercial scuba diver Raymond van Beek, who died in a accident while inspecting the vessel at the Malta Freeport on Sunday morning. Fellow Dutchmen Captain Peter Bergmann and Herman Raake were accused of causing van Beek's death through lack of skill, negligence, carelessness or non-observance of regulations. They were denied bail on the grounds that they do not have a fixed residence in Malta. Police Inspector Johan Fenech prosecuted. Dr Stefan Filletti and Dr Louis Cassar Pullicino were counsel to the accused. The police are still investigating the cause of the scuba diver's tragic death, which happened as he was carrying out routine inspections on the hull of the container ship. They are trying to establish how and why a bow thruster of the Verlaine was activated while van Beek was filming the bottom of the vessel, the action ending in his being sucked into the propellers, which mutilated his body in a matter of seconds. The German-flagged vessel, which arrived at the Freeport on Sunday morning just before the accident occurred at 9.30 a.m., was scheduled to leave that same day, its agents, Carmelo Caruana Co. Ltd, said. | | Instead, it left last night after the required permission was acquired, the agents said. It set sail with a new captain and chief engineer, the previous ones not being in a condition to navigate due to the shock and also because the magisterial inquiry was still under way and they are being questioned. The German captain of the vessel was on a launch, carrying a monitor and other equipment, while van Beek was filming the hull when the accident occurred, the agents said. Ship movements at the Freeport stopped for a while until an on-site inquiry was concluded and the mangled body recovered by Civil Protection Department divers. Representatives of the Hamburg-based company, HBS, which owns the 6,500 tons TEUs vessel, arrived in Malta on Sunday night to look into the tragedy. Mr van Beek, a commercial scuba diver residing in Malta, was married to a Maltese woman and had two children. The family live in Swieqi. SOURCE - The Times |
