Bow thruster 'had been turned off'

A magistrate yesterday heard the second engineer of a container ship explain how the bow thruster, which is being cited over the death of a diver who was carrying out an underwater hull inspection of the vessel, had been turned off once the ship was docked.

Magistrate Abigail Lofaro heard Jan Molenda testify in the compilation of evidence against the captain of the ship Peter Karl Bergmann and chief engineer Herman Dieter Raake, both German, who are pleading not guilty to the involuntary homicide of 40-year-old Dutch diver Raymond van Beek. Mr Beek died in an accident involving the bow thruster while inspecting the container ship at the Malta Freeport on July 11 last year.

Mr Molenda explained how, when the ship was docked at the Freeport, he ensured that the bow thruster was switched off by checking that the control lamps were off and the ampere meter, which registered the current of the bow thruster, was at zero.

He added that the computers onboard showed that, at the time of the accident the ship was operating on one of three generators - each having a 2,900 kilowatt capacity.

One generator was not powerful enough to start the bow thruster and computers showed that none of the other two generators had been switched on at the time of the incident.

Superintendent Peter Paul Zammit and Inspector Johann Fenech are prosecuting with the assistance of David Saliba, from the Organisational Health and Safety Authority.

Lawyers Stefan Frendo and Stefano Filletti are appearing for the chief engineer and the captain while lawyers Joseph Schembri and Francesco Depasquale are representing the diver's family.