Fatal yacht-boat collision 'could not have been avoided'
The Sorcery
An inquiry conducted following a collision between a yacht and a boat off Marsamxett has concluded that the incident could not have been avoided.
An 81-year-old man, Joseph Gatt, died when he fell off 14-foot boat after collision with the yacht Sorcery on July 12. His boat sank. Autopsy results two days later revealed that the cause of death was “asphyxia due to drowning”.
The Transport Ministry had commissioned Dr George Said to draw up a report.
The report found that “from the evidence (...) gathered during the course of (the) preliminary inquiry and from the technical advice (...) given together with the medical reports received, it would seem that all the physical circumstances combined together made this incident very difficult for all of the parties concerned to avoid”.
Dr Said found that the incident could not have been avoided.
He therefore did not made any recommendations on any further action but concluded that he did “not see any added value in conducting a formal investigation in terms of the Merchant Shipping Act”.
Dr Said made a number of recommendations to improve safety in Grand Harbour and Marsamxetto Harbour.
Transport Minister Austin Gatt has referred these recommendations to Transport Malta for implementation.
The ministry said the report was not being published in view of the fact that it contained personal details of the persons involved in the incident, particularly the man who died.
Following the incident, Mr Gatt's family filed a judicial application against the police commissioner complaining that he had not taken action against the yachtsman.
Mr Gatt’s widow Josephine Gatt Baldacchino and the couple’s children Carmen, Martin, Joseph and Isabelle said that yachtsman John Zarb sailed his yacht over Mr Gatt’s body.
The family said the incident was investigated by the police, an inquiry was opened but even though a man was killed and the police knew who had committed the manslaughter they still did not take any action against Mr Zarb.
Mr Zarb in a subsequent statement denied negligence and denied having “literally kept on going over” Mr Gatt while in the water, as had been claimed.
“The implication of this extremely serious and untruthful statement is that Mr Zarb was negligent, resulting in the death of Mr Gatt Baldacchino. Nothing could be farther from the truth,” his lawyer, Ann Fenech, said.
She said that on that fateful morning her client exercised all due diligence, prudence, care and attention, paying full regard to all rules and regulations.
“Notwithstanding, this unfortunate accident occurred, the full details of which will hopefully emerge following the conclusion of the reports of the two inquiries,” a magisterial inquiry and a preliminary investigation under the Merchant Shipping Act.
Dr Fenech said she was “extremely surprised” by the application because such action was only taken when the police refused to institute proceedings. In fact, she added, there was no evidence that the police refused to take action because investigations had not been concluded yet.
“In addition, the events as they occurred point towards the fact that this was an unfortunate accident at sea with no criminal liability or responsibility on the part of Mr and Mrs Zarb.”
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Peter Bonnici
Dec 11th 2010, 16:23
'Could not have been avoided' - Would a court of law accept such a conclusion?
charles philip zammit
Dec 11th 2010, 15:24
the hard fact is that a man is dead. how come one could not avert a death?
Andrew Borg-Cardona
Dec 10th 2010, 23:44
What arrogance some people show. From a news report and their own amateurish impressions, they pronounce themselves ex cathedra. Experts one and all - experts at blowing hot air.
Noel Cutajar
Dec 11th 2010, 16:37
Yes...explain it to the victim's family...
joseph zammit
Dec 10th 2010, 21:41
No body has the right to put the blame on anybody. If there are no witnesses and no known facts, nobody could draw up any conclusions. But if a small boat is on the look out, it surely would be much easier for a small boat to change course in order to avoid a collision, than for a larger vessel. And a sailing yacht needs plenty of room to manuevre and has to handle the sails and the wind direction, so all this is time consuming, not to mention the possibility of wind shifts. On a different note, at times fisherman are so carried away by their catch, that they do not watch the front. At times some persons also sit facing backwards to be able to fish better and handle the fishing lines, so this practise could be dangerous. And it is not uncommon that small boats fish just outside the harbour entrance, even anchored in the middle of the harbour obstructing the way for vessels entering and leaving the harbour. Imagine when the Gozo ferry is entering and leaving marsamxetto harbour, it is impossible for a ship to swerve around.
Pule' Carmel
Dec 11th 2010, 14:34
If I was at the helm of the Sorcery,I could turn it on a sixpence,or on one cent irrispective if, I was going to windward,close and broad reaching, or going downwind. The fact that a sailing hull has no lateral resistance at the front, then the centre keel and the rudder together will ensure sensitive and fast response.With the quick release systems on the spinacker, genoa and the mainsail, the driving power could be cut off in less than one second. With the long, deep , underkeel of a Maltese 14 foot boat, extending from the bow to the stern in order to stop drifting, I would not be surprised that its turning circle would be greater than that of a modern sailing yacht of 30-40 ft. And for the interest of the available technology. If the Gozo Channel Modern ferry had to meet such a situation, its four powerful thrusters would not need to swerve the vessel. It could stop it in a short length or SIDE STEP IT as those ferries can go sideways while keeping the same bearing! All the above is onlypossible for a helmsman, with good eyesight looking ahead scanning the sea ahead.
Pule' Carmel
Dec 10th 2010, 19:05
At University I have the shaft of the stabiliser system of a passenger ship which run aground in Egypt and came to Malta for repair. I also know of other collisions as the Titanic and a Gozo Channel Ferry colliding with Kemmuna. I know of other collisions off the Munxar at Marsascala and near the Casino. I know of many Naval Ship collisions at sea while manouvering. The interesting thing about all these collissions was that " not enough lookout was kept and they all could have been avoided. In one case the crew where watching the football cup, in another case the captain was drunk, in another case the ship was on autopilot and no lookout was in action. Incidentally even airline pilots were accused of being drunk before take off and replaced immediately. Even the Vulcan which exploded over Zabbar could have been avoided, if the captain did not hand over the controls to a pilot who never landed in Malta before. Most incidents could have been avoided and most are man made. Even if it was foggy, sireens and whistles could be used to avoid collisions at sea.
wally vella-zarb
Dec 10th 2010, 17:13
A very strange conclusion, especially in view of Rules 4 and 5 of The International Regulations for Avoiding Collisions at Sea, (also known as COLREGS) :-
"Rule 4
Rules in this section apply to any condition of visibility.
Rule 5
Every vessel shall at all times maintain a proper look-out by sight and hearing as well as by all available means appropriate in the prevailing circumstances and conditions so as to make a full appraisal of the situation and of the risk of collision."
b.busuttil
Dec 10th 2010, 16:49
could not be avoided??!!?
Joseph Borg
Dec 10th 2010, 16:15
Two trains on the same rails heading towards eachother with no one at the controls would be an unavoidable collision.... two boats at sea should be a somewhat different scenario.... incredible or what?!
john borg
Dec 10th 2010, 15:25
collision could not have been avoided !!!!!!!
what are the navigation rules doing then??? at least proper lookout!!!!
the investigation must have produced evidence that is not listed here (hope)
Neville Cassar
Dec 10th 2010, 14:33
The sea isnt exactly 'small'... there was no 'traffic', there wasnt fog, it was broad daylight and a 14foot boat isnt what you can call.. too small to see.
What a pity a life was lost.Who's fault was it ... we will never know.
B. Gauci
Dec 10th 2010, 15:09
You are obviously not a sailor, Mr. Cassar. Many cars have blind spots. This happens at sea too. Sometimes, when driving at certain times of the day, one is blinded by the sun despite wearing sun glasses. This can happen at sea too, and has the added possibility of glare reflecting off the sea as well. If memory serves, the small boat was a similar colour to our seas, so a glare would easily camouflage it.
Don't be so quick to throw stones.
L Attard
Dec 10th 2010, 15:38
Well said B. Gauci. How quick people are judge, anyone would have thought they were in the court room hearing all the evidence.
James Formosa
Dec 10th 2010, 17:28
Then publish everything involved! Doubting Thomases need proof.
Christopher Micallef
Dec 11th 2010, 10:25
@ B. Gauci very true.
Another point I can think of is that while slowing down a car and steering it is difficult and will not happen at once, especially if one is braking extremely hard while attempting to steer, I would think that this would be much harder a maneuver to carry out with a boat!
l fenech
Dec 10th 2010, 14:22
Sewwa il-povru sajjied ser jispicca li ikkommetta suicidju.