Ship captain, chief engineer cleared of diver's manslaughter

The German captain and chief engineer of a container ship have been cleared of the manslaughter of a diver who died when carrying out a hull inspection of the vessel three years ago at Malta Freeport.

The captain of the MV Verlaine, Peter Karl Bargmann, and the ship's chief engineer, Herman Dieter Raake, were cleared of involuntarily causing the death of 40-year-old Dutch diver Raymond Van Beck through negligence on July 11, 2004.

Magistrate Audrey Demicoli ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove that "the tragic death" of the diver - who died when he got sucked in by the ship's bow thruster - was the result of the action or inaction of the accused.

She heard Mr Bargmann explain that the vessel entered the Freeport to load and unload containers and to undergo a survey ordered by the classification society Lloyds. When the ship was safely moored, he instructed Mr Raake to switch to harbour mode. This meant that automatic control was shifted to manual control. The command elements, including the bow thrusters, were turned off.

Mr Bargmann said that, since the inspections were going to be carried out by the classification society that day, a number of engines had to be shut down and the vessel had to be kept running on one generator out of three.

One of the checks consisted of an underwater hull inspection and Mr Van Beck was the diver contracted by Lloyds to do the job.

The magistrate noted that evidence showed that Mr Van Beck boarded the ship and had a meeting with the captain whereby safety procedures were discussed. After the meeting, the ship's captain, Mr Van Beck and a Lloyds representative boarded the diver's boat. The dive commenced and the diver had cables, an audio link and oxygen and other cables attached to his helmet. As he dived, at a depth of 13.5-meters, Mr Bargmann and the Lloyds inspector remained on the boat. After about 15 minutes they saw a monitor screen crackle and then saw bubbles and some black pieces floating. They realised something was wrong.

During the magisterial inquiry it resulted that the diver died because he got sucked in the bow thruster.

Magistrate Demicoli also heard that the bow thruster could not be switched on accidentally because one had to carry out four steps to start it. Yet, experts said the bow thruster was in neutral position at the time of the incident even though it was concluded that it could not be switched on with only one generator operating.

The prosecution claimed that the bow thruster had never been switched off but the magistrate noted that documentation aboard the ship confirmed that all equipment, including the bow thrusters, had been switched off when the ship was moored.

The magistrate ruled that while the prosecution managed to prove that the bow thruster in question was on neutral mode at the time of the accident, it failed to prove who actually switched it on.

"The fact that there seems to be no logical explanation for the operation of the bow thruster at the time of the accident does not mean that the prosecution can... come to the conclusion that the bow thruster was never switched off and that this was attributable to the accused."

She also pointed out that since the diver was self-employed and operated through a company, of which he was the sole director, he was solely responsible for all health and safety issues relating to the diving operation.

Police Inspectors Johan Fenech and Noel Cutajar prosecuted.

Lawyers Stefano Filletti and Stefan Frendo were defence counsel.