'I'm Sinking': UK Court Told Of French Trawler's Final Call

London, Oct 5 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Oct, 2021 ) :The skipper of a stricken French trawler shouted "I'm capsizing, come quickly" as the vessel sank 17 years ago, a London inquest was told Tuesday as it probed whether the tragedy was caused by a submarine.

Serge Cossec, who commanded another French trawler the Eridan, said he heard the call made by Yves Gloaguen on the Bugaled Breizh, moments before it sank.

The families of the five crew who died in the tragedy 17 years ago hope the three-week investigation will confirm their belief that the trawler was dragged down by a submarine.

The Eridan was fishing around 14 nautical miles off the coast of Cornwall, in southwest England, on January 15, 2004, and some three or four miles from the Bugaled Breizh.

"At 13:25, I got a call from the skipper of the Bugaled Breizh telling me that she was capsizing without telling me why," Cossec told the court by video-link.

Weather conditions at the time were fair, he said, recalling that Gloaguen said: "I'm capsizing, come quickly." Cossec told the court that he asked "what's going on?" but got the same response.

Gloaguen's voice was "not like usual... he seemed to be wondering himself what was happening," he added.

Cossec said he told Gloaguen to drop his life rafts and asked for his position, before warning his own crew the vessel was in trouble and to prepare for a rescue operation.

- 'Just crackled' - About a minute after the first call "I picked up the handset and it just crackled", explained Cossec but the stricken vessel was no longer contactable.

All five men on board the Bugaled Breizh, which operated out of Loctudy in the Finistere region of northwest France, perished in the tragedy.

UK search and rescue teams recovered the bodies of Yves Gloaguen, 44, and Pascal Le Floch, 49, while that of Patrick Gloaguen, 35, was found in the wreck during a French salvage operation.

The two others -- chief engineer Georges Lemetayer, 60, and Eric Guillamet, 42 -- have never been found.

The families of the victims believe that the trawler sank after its nets were caught up in a submarine. NATO and Royal Navy exercises were taking place in the area at the time.

But Britain's Ministry of Defence and the Royal Navy deny any involvement, while a lengthy French judicial inquiry gave no definitive cause for the tragedy.

The hearing before high court judge Nigel Lickley is being held only into Yves Gloaguen and Pascal Le Floch's deaths because UK authorities were involved.

Inquests are held in England and Wales in the event of a sudden or unexplained death.

The hearings establish the causes and circumstances on the balance of probability. They do not determine criminal or civil liability but set out facts in the public interest.

In particularly sensitive or important cases, including matters involving national security, a judge can be appointed to oversee proceedings.