Safety aboard the Simshar

The Simshar had "more than the statutory requirements" in radio equipment required by law, Malta Maritime Authority officials confirmed.

The vessel had a traditional manual VHF radio and a second VHF radio that sent out an automatic distress signal once a button was pressed. This equipment had a range of 30 to 50 nautical miles. The inquiring lawyer pointed out that, had Mr Bugeja pressed that button, vessels in the area would have picked up the signal.

An emergency positioning indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) automatically sent a distress signal once it hit the water but only if it was removed from its cradle.

Mr Bugeja thought the device activated alone, despite still being on its cradle. The inquiring lawyer noted that, had the EPIRB been activated, the crew could have been saved.

A vessel monitoring system (VMS), operated by Datatrak, fed information to the Fisheries Department. The boat's VMS was meant to transmit a signal every two hours. However, the last one recorded was on July 5 at 11.06 a.m. There was no other transmission until July 10 when a position on request (POR) was sent from shore.

Datatrak could not explain why the Simshar did not transmit regularly but responded to the POR. It may have been a software fault.

The VMS's distress signal was sent by pressing a key for five minutes but Mr Bugeja said "nobody informs fishermen on how to use safety equipment".

A satellite phone on board was used by Mr Bugeja to send a text message to his wife. Mr Bugeja said Noel Carabott had grabbed the phone from the dock but as he did that the whole thing came off damaged.

Life raft

Mr Bugeja and his wife agreed that the life raft was always kept on top of the boat's bridge. He said that during the fire he tried to get it from the front of the deck but when he stood up on a small shelf on the deck, he noticed it had been blown away by the explosion. But, in a contradictory statement, he told his rescuer, Mark Bugeja, that he could not open the raft.

Fire coating

A boat builder, who was involved in the EU-funded modernisation of the Simshar, said he usually finished off the engine room with a fire proofing coating. But he gave it to Mr Bugeja to apply himself. Unfortunately, the boat builder said, many people ended up not applying this coating because it remained sticky for about a year.

Bulkheads

Although the Simshar was meant to have two bulkheads, according to specifications, Mr Bugeja had installed a third one to separate the fuel from the engine room.